Terrmel Sledge and Yoshio Itoi each homered twice as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters routed the Orix Buffaloes 12-3 on Tuesday to clinch a playoff berth in the Pacific League Climax Series for the fourth straight year.
Kenji Takahashi hit a two-run homer to open the scoring in the first inning followed by Sledge's blast for a 3-0 lead against rookie left-hander Masaki Iihara (0-3) at Sapporo Dome.
Itoi led off a five-run fourth with a drive to left and Sledge and Itoi added two-run drives with two outs in the sixth, making it 8-1.