Alfredo Despaigne hit a tie-breaking solo homer off reliever Dennis Sarfate on Wednesday as the Chiba Lotte Marines knocked off the defending Pacific League champs 4-3.
"I'm really happy with my first home run and that it came off a team as strong as SoftBank and contributed to a win," Despaigne said. "Sarfate is one of the elite pitchers in Japan, so I'm really happy to hit it off him."
The Hawks, who banged out 11 hits and drew three walks, held the Marines to four hits, but three of them cleared the fences before a crowd of 30,016 at Yafuoku Dome.