Tadahito Iguchi hit his third homer in as many games and went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on Friday as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks rallied to beat the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes 5-2 for their third straight victory.
Iguchi's two-run homer off Jeremy Powell (13-8) in the second inning tied the game 2-2 before Daiei scored the go-ahead run on a Hiroshi Shibahara RBI groundout in the fourth at Fukuoka Dome.
Junji Hoshino (8-7) earned the win after allowing two runs on four hits in five innings with three strikeouts and five walks. Katsunori Okamoto got five outs to pick up the save.
Powell, who gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings, has won only one of his last four starts. He remained tied with the Seibu Lions' Fumiya Nishiguchi for the league lead in most wins.
Orix owner sharpens ax
KOBE (Kyodo) Orix BlueWave owner Yoshihiko Miyauchi indicated Friday that he is considering axing club president Yutaka Okazone for a lackluster performance by the Pacific League team.
"I'm disappointed to see our team at the bottom of the league for much of the season. It's possible that the president will be sacked before the manager gets cut," Miyauchi said.
"He (Okazone) said during spring training that much can be expected from this year's roster. But the truth is that he completely misread the team's capabilities," he said.
As of Friday, Orix is 32 1/2 games behind the league-leading Seibu Lions and seven games behind the fifth-place Chiba Lotte Marines with a 40-67 record under new manager Hiromichi Ishige.