Kintetsu slugger Norihiro Nakamura drilled a grand slam and two other Buffaloes homered as they downed the Orix BlueWave 10-6 at the Osaka Dome on Wednesday to climb into second place in the Pacific League standings.
The Buffaloes are half a game behind the PL frontrunning Daiei Hawks. They are tied with Seibu in game difference but hold a better winning percentage than the Lions.
Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, Nakamura powered his 36th homer of the season off Hisashi Ogura (7-7) to put the Buffaloes ahead.