Takeshi Tsuji hit a two-run double and the Softbank Hawks sent 12 batters to the plate for an eight-run explosion in the eighth inning to rally over the Seibu Lions for a 9-5 victory in the Pacific League on Tuesday.
Lions' Kazuki Fukuchi slides into home plate on a Nagisa Arakaki wild pitch
to score a go-ahead run in the sixth against Fukuoka Softbank at Yahoo Dome.
The Hawks defeated Seibu 9-5.
KYODO PHOTOThe triumph was cause for a big celebration for Softbank, coming on the same day that Fukuoka manager Sadaharu Oh underwent a successful operation at a Tokyo hospital to remove his stomach after he was diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer.
After falling behind 5-1 through the sixth, Softbank had three consecutive hits to load the bases with none out in the big inning and Nobuhiko Matsunaka hit an RBI single followed by a Mitsuru Honma bases-loaded walk and Tsuji's double at Yahoo Dome.