SAPPORO – Hiroki Kokubo and Shotaro Ide homered as the Softbank Hawks held off the Nippon Ham Fighters 3-2 to snap a four-game losing streak on Sunday.

Softbank took a 3-0 lead on Kokubo’s two-run shot in the fourth inning and Ide’s solo drive in the seventh, both off rookie lefty Kazunori Yamamoto (0-1), at Sapporo Dome.

Kazumi Saito (6-3) held Pacific League leader Nippon Ham to two runs and six hits in six-plus innings. Takahiro Mahara earned his league-leading 37th save with a perfect ninth.

Hichori Morimoto had a two-run single in the seventh for Nippon Ham, which still leads second-place Softbank by 2 1/2 games.

Marines 8, Buffaloes 0

At Chiba Marine Stadium, Shunsuke Watanabe threw his second shutout of the season and Jose Ortiz hit a two-run homer, leading Chiba Lotte to a rout of Orix.

Watanabe (8-6) allowed just four hits — all singles — and a walk to pick up his first win since Aug. 16. Ortiz extended Lotte’s lead to 3-0 when he connected off Hidetaka Kawagoe (4-7) in the second inning.

Orix broke the game open with a five-run fifth that included RBI doubles by Daisuke Hayakawa and Saburo Omura en route to its fourth win in five games.

Eagles 5, Lions 4

At Fullcast Stadium, Daisuke Kusano doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Tohoku Rakuten ended Seibu’s six-game winning streak.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Carp 5, Dragons 0

At Nagoya Dome, Tomonori Maeda homered twice and Kan Otake threw his first career shutout, leading Hiroshima to a win over Chunichi Dragons.

Giants 3, BayStars 2

At Tokyo Dome, Lee Seung Yeop delivered a base-clearing triple to rally Yomiuri past Yokohama in the eighth inning and Koji Uehara finished off in perfect ninth to knock down the win.

Swallows 3, Tigers 0

At Jingu Stadium, Tokyo Yakult lefty Kazuhisa Ishii threw a two-hitter in his first shutout since making a comeback to Japan from the major leagues to lead the Swallows past Hanshin.

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