Takahiro Okada hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning as the Orix Buffaloes beat the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3-2 Wednesday for their seventh win in eight games.
The up-and-coming slugger drove a 1-0 fastball from Brian Wolfe (0-1) for an opposite-field home run to left, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead at Tokyo Dome.
Tomohiro Nioka pulled Nippon Ham within a run in the ninth with his second run-scoring hit of the night, but Jon Leicester escaped a one-out, two-on jam for his second save.