Sho Nakata's home run streak ended against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Wednesday. So the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters slugger went out and laid the foundation for a new one on Thursday.
Nakata homered in the fifth and seventh innings, Brandon Laird also went deep and seventh-year veteran Hirotoshi Masui threw the first shutout of his career as the Fighters routed the Eagles 8-0 on Thursday night at Tokyo Dome.
The win helped the Fighters keep the pressure on the Pacific League-leading Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Nippon Ham, trying to win its first pennant since 2012, trails the Hawks by a half-game in the standings after being behind by as many as 11 1/2 in July.
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