Benny Agbayani homered twice and drove in four runs as the Chiba Lotte Marines routed the Softbank Hawks 8-1 in the only Pacific League game held Thursday.
The loss prevented the second-place Hawks from gaining ground on league-leading Hokkaido Nippon Ham.
Rookie Kenji Otonari (2-3) imploded in the second inning as Lotte sent 10 batters to the plate to score seven runs, capped by a three-run blast by Agbayani to make it 7-0 at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Agbayani took Otonari on another ride — a solo shot — over the left field wall with two out in the seventh. Softbank's sole run came on Yuichi Honda's RBI single to right in the seventh.
Shingo Ono (6-9) allowed one run, despite scattering eight hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. Otonari was charged with eight runs on six hits in seven innings.
In a game against Lotte on Aug. 25, Otonari took a shutout into the seventh en route to a 4-1 win but it was a whole different story against the Marines on Thursday.