Tony Batista went 4-for-5 with a tiebreaking double in the sixth inning Tuesday as the Softbank Hawks beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 6-2 for their ninth straight win and reclaimed first place in the Pacific League.
After Lotte retied the game at 2-2 on a Koichi Hori sacrifice fly in the fourth, Munenori Kawasaki and Batista hit back-to-back doubles off Naoyuki Shimizu (7-5) with none out in the sixth before RBI hits from Julio Zuleta and Jolbert Cabrera made it 5-2 two outs later.
Kenji Jojima, Zuleta and Batista hit solo drives in the 13-hit attack at Chiba Marine Stadium, helping the Hawks stand atop of the league for the first time since April 23. Struggling Lotte lost its fourth in five games.
Toshiya Sugiuchi (11-2) became the first 11-game winner in either league after allowing two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.