Yoshinori Okihara went 3-for-4 and hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly as the last-place Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pounded out 17 hits against the front-running Softbank Hawks for a 7-5 victory in the Pacific League on Monday.
Hanshin baserunner Takashi Toritani slides home safely on a single by Andy Sheets in the eighth inning against the Yokohama BayStars at Koshien Stadium on Monday. The Tigers won 3-0.
Okihara's third-inning sacrifice fly gave Tohoku Rakuten the lead for good and Yuji Yoshioka followed with an RBI single that made it 3-1 at Yahoo Dome, providing support to Gary Rath (2-6), who won his second straight start after losing six decisions in a row.
Rath worked 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and one walk while striking out five. Kazuo Fukumori got his 10th save.