Former Triple Crown winner Nobuhiko Matsunaka delivered a tie-breaking, pinch-hit double on Sunday as the Pacific League-leading Fukuoka Softbank Hawks reeled off their eighth straight win by beating the Nippon Ham Fighters 6-4.
With game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Hawks skipper Koji Akiyama sent Matsunaka, who entered the game 2-for-19 on the season up to bat against hard-throwing youngster Shohei Otani (9-3).
With two on and two outs, the 40-year-old left-handed hitter swung and missed badly at a 1-0 forkball to run the count to 1-1, when Otani missed badly with a curve that hung up in the zone. Matsunaka, who won the PL Triple Crown in 2004, smacked it past the third base bag and down the line for a double that plated Lee Dae-ho to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead.