Carter Stewart Jr. strikes out nine in five hitless innings in his starting pitching debut for the SoftBank Hawks in a 0-0 Pacific League tie with the Nippon Ham Fighters at Fukuoka's PayPay Dome on Aug. 15, 2021. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- SoftBank Hawks right-hander Carter Stewart Jr. struck out nine batters over five innings in his first career start and five relievers completed to no-hit the Nippon Ham Fighters in a 0-0 Pacific League tie on Sunday.

       Stewart, the eighth overall pick in Major League Baseball's 2018 draft, instead turned pro in Japan with the Hawks on a six-year deal in 2019. His first start came in place of veteran lefty Tsuyoshi Wada, who was scratched due to injury.

       The 1.98-meter 21-year-old entered the game having allowed six runs in four first-team relief appearances. He hit the first batter he faced but retired the next 15.

       "I was happy to get the first start under my belt," Stewart said. "It came in a tough situation with Wada getting hurt, (with) not a lot of time but I went out and did the best I could."

       "It got a little bit unlucky (with the hit batter). Overall, getting that first out was really big for me and I was able to cruise from there on."

       Yuki Tsumori and Shinya Kayama worked the sixth, before Yuki Matsumoto, Yugo Bando and Hiroshi Kaino finished up.

       Fighters starter Drew VerHagen was pulled after allowing one hit over three innings, and Takahide Ikeda repeated that feat to keep it scoreless through six.

       The Hawks had their best chance of the game in the eighth against Bryan Rodriguez, the Fighters' fourth pitcher thanks to Kenji Akashi's leadoff single. Pinch-runner Ukyo Shuto stole second and was bunted to third.

       Takuya Kai, whose bunting and hitting was instrumental in Samurai Japan's two walk-off wins en route to the Olympic gold medal, failed to reproduce that magic against Rodriguez.

       With one out the Hawks put on a suicide squeeze. With Shuto coming down the line, Rodriguez bounced his pitch, Kai failed to get the bat on the ball and Fighters catcher Ryo Ishikawa recorded the out as Shuto was caught stealing.

       With this year's coronavirus countermeasure rules limiting games to nine innings, Fighters closer Toshihiro Sugiura retired the Hawks in order to end the game in a tie.

       The tie left the Hawks in fourth place, behind the third-place Lotte Marines on winning percentage, and two games back of the second-place Rakuten Eagles.

       At Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium, Adam Jones homered and drove in three runs as the PL-leading Orix Buffaloes came from behind in a 5-3 win over the Marines.

       At MetLife Dome, Tomoya Mori drove in four runs for the Seibu Lions who scored six runs over two innings against former Lions ace Hideaki Wakui (6-7) in a 10-2 win over the Eagles.

       At Tokyo Dome, Japan Olympian Hayato Sakamoto hit a first-inning solo home run, his 12th, as the Central League's second-place club, the Yomiuri Giants, held on for a 4-2 win over the Chunichi Dragons.

       At Kyocera Dome Osaka, leadoff man Koji Chikamoto homered and scored twice as the Hanshin Tigers beat the Hiroshima Carp 3-0 to maintain their one-game lead over the Giants.

       At Hard Off Eco Stadium Niigata, Yakult Swallows rookie Yasunobu Okugawa (5-2) allowed a run over seven innings while striking out nine in a 4-1 win over the DeNA BayStars.

       Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0