Satoshi Nagai pitched one-run ball over eight innings and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles got longballs from Takeshi Yamasaki, Norihiro Nakamura and Randy Ruiz on the way to an 8-2 rout of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks on Thursday.
Nagai (6-7) allowed five hits, struck out four and walked two at Yahoo Dome, helping to snap a five-game skid for the Eagles while ending the Hawks' winning streak at nine games.
"We had been losing since coming back from the All-Star break, so it's great to get a win," Nagai said. "Beating the Hawks is a confidence boost for us. The fielders really helped me out, so I could pitch comfortably. My fastball was really working today."