SAPPORO – Sho Nakata belted a sayonara solo home run in the 10th inning to lift the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Orix Buffaloes on Saturday night and give themselves some breathing room in their push for the postseason.
Nakata’s 27th homer of the season, off closer Yoshihisa Hirano (1-6), knocked Orix a full game back of first-place in the Pacific League standings behind the idle Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. The Fighters, currently in third place, moved 5-1/2 games clear of the fourth-place Tohoku Rakuten Eagles.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.