Wily Mo Pena broke the balance with a tiebreaking three-run home run in the sixth inning as the Orix Buffaloes held off the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 6-5 to regain first place in the Pacific League on Thursday night.

Pena's 20th homer of the season came off Hawks starter Sho Iwasaki (2-1), a blast over the left-field wall that made it 6-2 at Yafuoku Dome.

Orix shortstop Ryoichi Adachi, who drove in two runs, added insurance with an RBI single the same inning in front of a Hawks' partisan crowd of 29,907.