Hawks hit six homers in 18-3 win over Orix

Kenji Jojima drove in seven runs with three homers to highlight the Daiei Hawks' 18-3 batting romp over the Orix BlueWave on Friday night at Green Stadium Kobe.

Daiei scored 18 runs on 18 hits to extend its winning streak to three.

Trailing 1-0, Pedro Valdez hit a three-run double with the bases loaded and no outs and Jojima hit a two-run homer, his first of the day, in a six-run sixth inning.

Jojima's second and third homers both came in a nine-run ninth inning with a two-run blast off righty reliever Masahiro Kimura and a three-run arch off lefty reliever Takatoshi Kishikawa.

Hiroshi Shibahara hit a solo homer and Tadahiro Iguchi blasted one for two runs in the seventh. Tony Mitchell belted a solo homer in the ninth.

Brady Raggio improved his record to 3-0 after giving up 11 hits over the distance.

Marines 10, Lions 4

Frank Bolick hit an RBI single, Derrick May hit a sacrifice fly for the game-tying run and Yukihiko Sato singled home the tie-breaking run in the bottom of the first inning as Lotte beat Seibu at Chiba Marine Stadium.

Lotte scored seven runs on five hits and four walks in the second inning.

Buffaloes 7, Fighters 2

Koichi Isobe cracked a three-run homer in the first inning and Katsuhiro Mekawa (3-0) scattered nine hits and gave up two runs as Kintetsu beat Nippon Ham at the Osaka Dome.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Giants 3, BayStars 2 (10)

Hideki Matsui slugged a solo "sayonara" home run off Yokohama reliever Masao Morinaka in the bottom of the 10th inning, helping Yomiuri edge Yokohama at the Tokyo Dome.

Yomiuri starter Koji Uehara gave up one hit over the first eight innings before giving up a game-tying solo homer to Hitoshi Nakane and a tie-breaking RBI single to Takanori Suzuki in the top of the ninth.

But Toshihisa Nishi nailed a game-tying solo homer off Yokohama reliever Takashi Saito in the bottom of the frame. Yomiuri rookie Shintaro Abe belted his first career homer, a solo blast, in the fifth.

Dragons 7, Tigers 0

Masahiro Yamamoto (2-0) pitched a five-hit shutout over the distance and Ozzie Timmons hit a base-clearing three-run double to left centerfield in a four-run fifth as Chunichi beat Hanshin at the Nagoya Dome.

Swallows 4, Carp 1

Alex Ramirez homered for a run in the second inning and Roberto Petagine and Atsunori Inaba hit back-to-back solo homers in the eighth, carrying Yakult over Hiroshima at Hiroshima Stadium.

Gomez may return

Former Chunichi slugger Leo Gomez may return to the Dragons this season in an attempt to help his old Central League team, Kyodo News reported.

Gomez, who played for Chunichi from 1997 to 2000 and had 118 homers, trained with the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this year but failed to make it to the majors.

Hawks sign Haney

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) The Daiei Hawks have signed former Cleveland Indians southpaw pitcher Chris Haney to a deal worth an estimated $450,000, the Pacific League club announced Friday.

Haney, 32, who posted 10 wins for the Kansas City Royals in 1996, has appeared in 172 games in his major league career with an overall record of 38-52 with a 5.11 earned run average. He made only one mound appearance for the Indians last season.

Haney, who is already in Japan, is expected to join the two-time defending PL champion Hawks on Monday.