Rookie Masaru Fujii allowed a run in five innings and Hideto Asamura backed him with two home runs for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in their 5-1 Pacific League win Sunday over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
The come-from-behind victory at Sendai's Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi was the Eagles' fifth straight as the left-handed Fujii (2-0) surrendered the game's first run but none after that for his second straight win.
Trailing 1-0 in the third after Yuki Yanagita ripped an RBI single, the Hawks came back. Yuya Ogo's two-out single tied it and Asamura launched an impressive opposite-field blast to right-center with two on.
"Whenever I pitch the guys score a lot of runs for me, so I'm grateful," Fujii said. "Before the game batting coach Tatsuya Imai told me that too, 'We always score for you, so do your best.'"
Fuji left after allowing five hits and a walk over five innings, with four relievers kept the Hawks off the board the rest of the way, and Asamura hit his 15th home run to complete the scoring in the eighth.
He is now tied for the PL home run lead with young Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters slugger Chusei Mannami.
The Hawks' defeat dropped them a game back of the Orix Buffaloes, who beat the Seibu Lions 11-5 to move into first place, while former Pittsburgh Pirate Gregory Polanco's two-run eighth-inning double brought the Chiba Lotte Marines from behind in a 3-2 win over Nippon Ham.
In the Central League, rookie Shota Morishita's first career home run lifted the Hanshin Tigers over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1-0, while the Yokohama DeNA BayStars edged the Yomiuri Giants 1-0 in 12 innings and the Hiroshima Carp held off the Chunichi Dragons 3-2.