Koji Akiyama belted a three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Daiei Hawks exploded for eight more runs the next frame to trounce the Kintetsu Buffaloes 12-4 at the Fukuoka Dome on Sunday.
Akiyama's blast off southpaw starter Katsuhiko Maekawa knotted the score 4-4 before Hiroki Kokubo arched a three-run shot with one out in the eighth to make it 7-4 against the newly crowned Pacific League champions.
Kintetsu's Tuffy Rhodes, still aiming to break the Japanese single-season home run record of 55, was 0-for-2 with two walks as the Buffaloes had their eight-game winning streak halted.
Fighters 6, Lions 5
Michihiro Ogasawara hit a solo homer in the 10th inning to lift Nippon Ham over Seibu at Seibu Dome, capping a 3-for-5 day to move within six points of PL batting leader Kazuya Fukuura of the Lotte Marines.
BlueWave 7, Marines 6
Pinch hitter Yasuo Fujii became the seventh person in the history of Japanese baseball to hit a "sayonara" grand slam as Orix rallied past Lotte at Green Stadium Kobe.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Dragons 3, Tigers 2
Chunichi snapped a seven-game losing streak on a Kosuke Fukudome solo homer in the fifth inning and Kazuki Inoue's run-scoring triple in the seventh were enough to beat Hanshin at the Nagoya Dome.
Swallows at Carp -- ppd.
Yakult's game at Hiroshima Stadium was postponed to Monday night due to rain.
Saturday's late game:
Carp 6, BayStars 5