Hiroki Kokubo and Brian Buchanan hit RBI doubles in a four-run first inning to lead the Softbank Hawks to a 7-1 win over the front-running Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. Hitoshi Tamura and Kokubo added run-scoring doubles as the Hawks built a six-run lead through five innings at Sapporo Dome and went on to narrow the gap on the Fighters to four games heading into the All-Star break. Kokubo went 2-for-5 and drove in three runs.
Softbank Hawks starter Toshiya Sugiuchi delivers a pitch against the Nippon Ham Fighters on Wednesday at
Sapporo Dome. The Hawks won 7-1.
KYODO PHOTOToshiya Sugiuchi (12-2) cruised to his 12th win of the season, holding Nippon Ham to a run and five hits over eight innings.
The result left Softbank in third place in the league standings, a game behind the second-place Lotte Marines.
Marines 3, Buffaloes 1
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Jose Ortiz hit a game-tying double and Tomoya Satozaki followed with a go-ahead single in the fourth inning as Chiba Lotte rallied to beat Orix.
Lions 6, Eagles 4
At Fullcast Stadium, Toru Hosokawa drove hit a tiebreaking homer in a four-run ninth inning as Seibu sent Tohoku Rakuten to its fourth loss in five games.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Dragons 8, Swallows 2
At Nagoya Dome, Takashi Ogasawara pitched five effective innings and Tyrone Woods backed the left-hander with two homers and three RBIs on Wednesday as the Central League leading Dragons routed the Swallows in the final game before the All-Star break.
Tigers 5, Giants 3
At Koshien Stadium, Veteran left-hander Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi limited the damage to one run in five innings to win his sixth consecutive decision as Hanshin held off Yomiuri.
BayStars 3, Carp 0
At Yokohama Stadium, Daisuke Miura threw eight shutout innings and got run support from back-to-back eight-inning doubles.