The battle for first place got messy in the Pacific League on Saturday, when Kenta Imamiya drove in three runs to push the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to a 10-9 win over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Before 26,383 at Kobo Park Miyagi, Imamiya came up with his team trailing 4-3 and Eagles starter Manabu Mima starting to get hit hard. With no outs and runners on second and third in the fifth inning, he singled off Mima's first pitch to put SoftBank in front for good in the 4-hour, 26-minute game.
"It was a long game, so I'm glad we won," said Imamiya, whose team closed to within a half-game of the league-leading Eagles.