Nobuhiro Matsuda and Yuki Yanagita both homered and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks edged closer to clinching their second straight Pacific League title with a 7-3 defeat of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday night.
The Hawks' fifth straight win put them 13½ games ahead of second-placed Nippon Ham and reduced their magic number to clinch the pennant to six.
Seiichi Uchikawa led off the second inning with a single and Lee Dae-ho, who hit a grand slam in Wednesday's 13-2 rout, added a single to right before Matsuda opened the scoring with his 32nd homer of the season off Shohei Otani.