Seibu Lions right-hander Ken Togame overcame an awkward start to throw seven innings in his team’s 7-0 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines on Wednesday afternoon.

On the day Lotte handed its starting assignment to the first pro ballplayer out of academic powerhouse Kyoto University, Eisuke Tanaka, Togame stole the show. After pitching out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the first, Togame (2-1) cruised for the next six innings, in which only one Marines batter got as far as second.

With superb movement and command of his fastball and curve, Togame was able to miss bats with both pitches. He surrendered five hits and two walks, while striking out seven as his teammates bludgeoned the Marines with 15 hits.

“I had a big lead to work with, but honestly, even I got butterflies in front of such a big crowd in my first day game in a long time,” Togame said of his first-inning troubles, which eased when Toshiaki Imae’s soft liner was caught at short for the second out.

“(When he hit it) I thought, ‘Now I’ve done it.’ In the end, I was able to pitch my game. My breaking ball worked really well today.”

Before a packed holiday crowd of 30,100 at QVC Marine Field, right-hander Tanaka (0-1) took the mound to much fanfare, only for the Lions to school him with some hard knocks. Tanaka demonstrated a live fastball and a good splitter, but his command was off in a four-run first inning, when he issued back-to-back walks on his first nine pitches.

With no outs and two on, Hideto Asamura’s hard smash through the box made it 1-0, Takeya Nakamura followed with an RBI double and teenager Tomoya Mori capped the rally with a two-run double.

Tanaka appeared in control after issuing a leadoff walk in the second, but he surrendered three straight one-out hits in the third. Ernesto Mejia, hitless in his previous five games, flared a single to left. Mori singled to center and Shogo Saito doubled to deep center to make it a 5-0 game.

“After the second inning, the pitching coach told me, I was doing the things I needed to do, but I was unable to keep that up till the end,” Tanaka said. “It was an experience.”

Tanaka, who had been promoted after going 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA for Lotte’s minor league team, allowed five runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out three.

Ryoji Katsuki yielded a run in the fourth. Shogo Akiyama led off with a triple and scored on Asamura’s second hit of the game.

Togame said he couldn’t stop thinking about the youngster’s baptism.

“I kept thinking about my own pro debut,” Togame said. “To get his start in this kind of environment is pretty special.”

With none out and runners on the corners in the sixth, Marines right fielder Ikuhiro Kiyota prevented a run when he made a diving catch of Asamura’s sinking line drive, but Akiyama added an RBI single to cap the scoring in the seventh.

Hawks 10, Fighters 5

At Sapporo Dome, Kenji Akashi’s second-inning grand slam overturned a 3-0 Hokkaido Nippon Ham lead and Fukuoka Softbank starter Shota Takeda (2-1) pitched into the seventh to earn the win.

Buffaloes 6, Eagles 0

At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Bryan Bullington (2-1) threw a one-hitter for his first shutout in four years, and Orix rookie Masahiro Nishino came within a double of reaching the cycle and drove in four runs in a win over Tohoku Rakuten.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Carp 9, BayStars 2

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Eishin Soyogi capped a five-run first inning with a three-run home run and Hiroshima ace Kenta Maeda (2-2) allowed just two runs over eight innings despite allowing 11 hits as the Carp snapped Yokohama’s five-game winning streak.

Dragons 5, Giants 1

At Tokyo Dome, Daisuke Yamai (2-2) allowed a run over six-plus innings to earn the win as Ricardo Nanita and Anderson Hernandez drove in a run apiece in Chunichi’s win over Yomiuri that snapped a four-game losing streak.

Tigers 3, Swallows 1

At Hyogo prefecture’s Koshien Stadium, Minoru Iwata (1-1) went seven innings and combined with four Hanshin relievers to hold Tokyo Yakult to a run while Mauro Gomez and Matt Murton both had RBI singles in a two-run first. The Swallows have lost three straight for the first time this season.