Makoto Imaoka hit a three-run home run Monday, shaking off a stomach bug from a day earlier to help power the Hanshin Tigers to an 8-2 rout of the Orix Buffaloes in a makeup interleague game.
Hanshin Tigers runner Norihiro Akahoshi slides safely to steal second base
while Orix Buffaloes shortstop Makoto Shiozaki waits for the ball in the first inning Monday at Koshien Stadium.
Five of the starting nine had multiple hits in a 14-hit attack that led Hanshin to its third straight win, allowing it to move nine games above .500 in the Central League. Orix lost its eighth in a row for the first time in three years.
Chris Oxspring (3-0) allowed two runs while scattering nine hits with no walks over six innings and helped his own cause with a leadoff double before scoring the tiebreaking run in the third on Norihiro Akahoshi's single to left at Koshien Stadium.
Andy Sheets hit a sacrifice fly with one out in the first to tie the game at 1-1, and Akahoshi gave Hanshin the lead for good.
Takashi Toritani delivered a shot to left off reliever Yuki Tanaka in the fourth, and Imaoka, who missed Sunday's game against Orix with gastroenteritis, lofted a slider from the right-hander into the left-field seats to make it 6-1 in the fifth. Katsuhiko Maekawa (1-4) took the loss.