Tuffy Rhodes slammed his 49th homer of the season and Eiji Mizuguchi singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning as the Kintetsu Buffaloes edged the Nippon Ham Fighters 10-9 at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday to climb into first place in the Pacific League standings, half a game ahead of Daiei.
Central League WonLostTiedPct.GB Yakult 65 40 5 .619 - Yomiuri 62 56 2 .525 9.5 Hiroshima 51 53 6 .490 13.5 Yokohama 52 56 3 .481 14.5 Chunichi 52 59 3 .468 16.0 Hanshin 47 65 1 .420 21.5 Pacific League WonLostTiedPct.GB Kintetsu 65 52 2 .556 - Daiei 65 53 1 .551 0.5 Seibu 63 56 0 .529 3.0 Orix 56 57 4 .496 7.0 Lotte 55 59 2 .482 8.5 Nippon Ham 44 71 3 .383 20.0
Rhodes slammed a two-run shot in Kintetsu's four-run second inning. With 21 games remaining, he is now six homers away from tying Sadaharu Oh's Japanese baseball record for most home runs in a season, set in 1964.