Baseball: DeNA’s Bauer goes distance for 1st time in Japan

Trevor Bauer struck out 12 in a three-hit victory as the Central League’s DeNA BayStars beat the Pacific League’s Nippon Ham Fighters 2-1 Wednesday.

The BayStars’ interleague win at Yokohama Stadium kept them 3-1/2 games back of the CL-leading Hanshin Tigers.

Bauer (4-2), who joined DeNA this spring after 30 MLB teams passed on signing him at minimum salary following his 194-game suspension for violating MLB’s sexual assault policy, lowered his ERA in Japan to 4.00.

His teammates gifted him a fifth-inning lead on Neftali Soto’s two-run double off tough Fighters lefty Takayuki Kato (4-5), who a...