After his heroics the previous night, hitting a three-run home run in a Hawks win, the Fukuoka fans were hungry for an encore from Hiroki Kokubo. As usual he didn't disappoint, but this time he had some help.
Kokubo hit his eighth home run of the year, but this day belonged to teammate Hitoshi Tamura. The outfielder was 3-for-4 with four RBI's, including a monstrous home run to dead center (a more than 122-meter blast), to ice the Hawks' 11-2 rout of Nippon Ham (8-13-3) Saturday afternoon at Tokyo Dome.
"We fought very hard," Softbank manager Sadaharu Oh said. "Everyone did their best. It was great that our 3-4-5 hitters all went deep. It was really a long time coming for Tamura. The way that one flew it would have even been a home run in Fukuoka."
The Hawks (12-11-1) seized control of a 2-2 game during a seven-run seventh inning that featured three home runs, including back-to-back shots by Tamura and Nobuhiko Matsunaka, off reliever Takehiko Oshimoto. Right fielder Allen Hyzdu also homered, off reliever Takeshi Ito, in the inning.
The seventh began with a double by shortstop Satoru Morimoto and ended eight different batters later when he flew out to center. Of the nine players that Fukuoka sent to the plate in the inning, seven came around to score.
Nippon Ham starter Tomoya Yagi (2-2) had an up and down outing that finally caught up to him in the fifth. His day began by giving up a lead-off single to Naoyuki Omura, before walking the bases loaded with one out. After the consecutive free passes, he found his control long enough to retire the next seven batters he faced.
With the game tied in the fifth, a pitch a little to far inside struck Omura, to put a runner on with one out. After advancing on a sacrifice bunt Omura would score on an RBI single by Tamura. Yagi then gave up a lead-off homer to Kokubo in the sixth which gave Fukuoka a 2-1 lead. After giving up an RBI single in the seventh that broke a 2-2- tie, Yagi's roller-coaster outing was over.
Although as he sat his ERA continued to suffer as he was charged with two of the three runs that Tamura's blast to center scored. Relievers Oshimoto, Ito and Kazunori Yamamoto combined to give up eight runs, including three home runs, after the starter was pulled.
Despite that, manager Trey Hillman seemed more worried about a lack of run support.
"We're just not scoring runs," Hillman said. "That's the biggest difference. We're not scoring runs and that puts a lot of pressure on our pitching staff. We're last in runs and we're last in slugging."
Oh, meanwhile, was just happy to have come out on the winning side against a talented starter for the second straight day. Fukuoka got the best of Fighters ace Yu Darvish the night before, despite the hurler tossing a complete game with 10 strikeouts.
"Darvish and Yagi could have shut us down," Oh said. "The way he (Yagi) got out of trouble in the first inning I knew it was going to be a long game. But you just have to keep fighting."
Hawks starter Kazumi Saito was far from dominant himself, but with the way Fukuoka played behind him he didn't have to be. Benefiting from the Fukuoka defense, including a stellar play at shortstop Morimoto in the fifth that ultimately cost the Fighters a run, Saito's effort was more than enough.
He allowed one run on six hits and struck out four over five innings. Relief pitcher Makoto Sato (1-0) picked up the win.
For Softbank the win helps it gain ground on Pacific League-leading Seibu, which lost to Orix.
Buffs down Lions
TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. (Kyodo) Tom Davey pitched seven strong innings and Hiroaki Onishi went 2-for-4 with an RBI, leading the Orix Buffaloes to a 7-1 win over the Seibu Lions in the Pacific League on Saturday.
Marines 5, Eagles 3
At Sendai's Fullcast Stadium, Julio Zuleta singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as Chiba Lotte overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat Tohoku Rakuten for its third consecutive win.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Giants 5, Tigers 2
At Koshien Stadium, Yomiuri outfielder Damon Hollins hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs in the victory over Hanshin.
BayStars 3, Carp 2
At Yokohama Stadium, pinch-hitter Hitoshi Taneda hit a two-run game-winning double in the ninth inning.
Dragons 16, Swallows 7
At Jingu Stadium, Kosuke Fukudome and Norihiro Nakamura each homered twice and drove in eight runs between them in a 21-hit onslaught as Chunichi hammered Yakult into submission.
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