Wladimir Balentien had a magical night, hitting three home runs and driving in eight runs to power the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in a 12-4 rout of the Chunichi Dragons on Wednesday.
Balentien hit a two-run blast off Chunichi starter Kazuki Yoshimi (5-3) to get the offense rolling in the second inning and tacked on an RBI double in the third. He added a three-run drive and two-run shot in the sixth and eighth, respectively.
All of Yakult's starting nine had at least a hit in an 18-hit onslaught at Jingu Stadium. Masanori Ishikawa (6-6) gave up four runs over eight innings but got plenty of run support.