Tuffy Rhodes homered twice and Hisashi Iwakuma pitched a six-hitter Monday to lead the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes to an 8-1 rout of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Pacific League.
Rhodes hit a three-run drive in the fifth inning for his first homer in seven games before connecting for his second of the night -- a solo shot in the eighth -- as the Buffaloes returned to .500 in the PL standings. Rhodes now leads the league with 17 homers.
Iwakuma (2-3) allowed one run and six hits while striking out four and walking none at the Osaka Dome as he became the first in the Kintetsu rotation to claim a complete-game victory.
The Hawks fell to their fourth loss in a row on the 62nd birthday of manager Sadaharu Oh.
Marines 8, Fighters 3
At the Tokyo Dome, Naoyuki Shimizu won his third straight decision against Nippon Ham and Koichi Hori and Kiyoshi Hatsushiba both homered to highlight Chiba Lotte's 13-hit attack.