3 days ago
Baseball: Hawks beat Fighters to extend Japan Pacific League lead
FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- Hotaka Yamakawa and Jeter Downs both homered to back a strong outing from Kohei Arihara as the SoftBank Hawks beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 4-1 on Saturday.
The win, in the opener of a crucial three-game home series, saw the Hawks extend their lead at the top of the Pacific League standings to two games over the second-place Fighters.
The hosts turned a one-run deficit into a 2-1 lead in the second on Yamakawa's solo blast and Takashi Umino's RBI single.
Two innings later, Downs added a two-run shot to left-center at Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka.
SoftBank right-hander Arihara (10-5) held his former team to one run and four hits in seven innings, while Nippon Ham lefty Takayuki Kato (7-5) lasted only 3-1/3 innings.
In other action, the Chunichi Dragons blanked the Hiroshima Carp 2-0.
