Ryan McBroom went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, leading the Hiroshima Carp to a 10-3 Central League win over the DeNA BayStars on Saturday.
The fourth-place Carp are chasing the third-place Hanshin Tigers — with around 10 games left in the regular season for each team — as the top three in the six-team league advance to the Climax Series playoffs.
McBroom hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the third inning and an RBI single in a four-run eighth at Yokohama Stadium.
"I was just trying to drive in a guy on base, do some damage and bring some excitement to you guys (fans)," McBroom said of his 16th home run of the season in a postgame interview.
"We are approaching every game like it is a playoff game. It's a must-win game for us. We're going to fight and give our all for you guys."
In the sixth, Ryuhei Matsuyama broke a 3-3 tie with an RBI grounder off Taisei Irie (4-1), and Shota Dobayashi added a pinch-hit, two-run single for the Carp. Shota Nakazaki (2-5) won in relief.
At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Chunichi catcher Takuya Kinoshita delivered a game-tying single with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning as the Dragons played out a 3-3 tie with the CL-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Yakult cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami went 1-for-3 with a double and three walks, including one intentional. He leads Japanese baseball with 55 home runs this season and is now in a four-way tie for second place behind the 60 Wladimir Balentien hit for the Swallows in 2013.