Sho Nakata went 4-for-5 with five RBIs and lifted the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to within four games of the Pacific League summit on Sunday as they beat the first-place Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 8-3.

Nakata turned the game around with a sharp two-run single off SoftBank's Kenichi Nakata (3-3) in the third, and blasted over the left-center wall for another two runs in the fourth off reliever Sho Iwasaki.

Nakata singled in the seventh off Hawks reliever Edison Barrios and then hit an RBI single in the eighth off Ryota Igarashi to complete the scoring as the Fighters came away with two wins in a three-game series at Yafuoku Dome.