A day after his fielding error cost his team the Pacific League lead, Yuki Yanagita helped power them back on top as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks clobbered the Chiba Lotte Marines 11-3 on Friday night.
With two outs and none on in the first inning, Yanagita homered to start a four-run outburst that was all Hawks starter Tsuyoshi Wada would need. On Thursday against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Yanagita's attempt to make a sliding catch in shallow center during the ninth inning turned a single into a three-run, inside-the-park homer that had cost the Hawks the game in a 7-5 loss.
"I blew it yesterday," said Yanagita, who went 2-for-5 with four RBIs in the series opener against the Marines. "My goal today was to put that behind me and come out ready to compete. I'm glad that led to good results."