Masaru Takeda pitched three-run ball over five innings, and Sho Nakata and Michel Abreu each homered to power the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in a 5-3 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines on Monday night.
Nakata went deep with two outs and a runner on first in the opening frame for a 2-0 lead at QVC Marine Field. Takeda (5-4) allowed five hits and two earned runs. He struck out two and walked none and four relievers shut down the Lotte bats the rest of the way.
"I was able to put a solid swing on the pitch I was waiting for," said Nakata, who belted a high fastball on the second pitch he saw from Lotte lefty starter Takahiro Fujioka (4-5) over the wall in left-center for his 18th home run of the year.