FUKUOKA, Japan (Interstat) — Kosei Shoji delivered five strong innings and the Rakuten Golden Eagles held on for a 3-2 victory over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Tuesday night.

Shoji allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six to earn the win, improving to 3-0. The Golden Eagles scored once in the fourth on a Daisuke Nakashima groundout and added two in the fifth on an RBI double by Ryosuke Tatsumi and a run-scoring single by Yoshiaki Watanabe.

The Hawks plated both their runs in the fourth on a Yuki Yanagita single. Carter Stewart Jr. took the loss for SoftBank. Shoma Fujihira pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save for Rakuten.

A crowd of 37,996 at the Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome watched the three-hour, six-minute contest. Rakuten improved to 8-6-1, while SoftBank fell to 10-5-1.