Taiwan’s Wang Po-jung drove in two runs, and rookie right-hander Hiromi Ito allowed two runs over six innings as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Orix Buffaloes 5-2 on Thursday, snapping the Pacific League leaders’ streak of 11 straight winning decisions.
Kensuke Kondo doubled with two outs in the first at Kyocera Dome Osaka and scored on Wang’s single. With the Fighters’ leading 2-0 in the third, Wang doubled with two outs to make it 3-0 against Buffaloes starter Hirotoshi Masui (2-5), a former Fighters player.
“I got good advice from the coaches and good information from our advance scouts, and that helped me get these results,” Wang said.
Yuki Nomura’s fourth-inning homer gave Ito a 4-0 lead, allowing him to overcome allowing two runs in the bottom of the fourth when Orix finally managed to convert a scoring opportunity.
Ito (5-4) allowed six hits, three walks and a hit batsman while striking out three but allowed no runs until Takahiro Okada walked to lead off the fourth, Stefen Romero doubled, and both scored on outs.
The right-hander has now won his last four starts.
Hawks 7, Marines 2
At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Yuki Yanagita hit his 17th and 18th home runs, singled and drove in three runs for the Fukuoka SoftBank in a come-from-behind win.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Tigers 6, Dragons 0
At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Joe Gunkel (6-0) allowed six hits, but no walks over seven innings as Central League-leading Hanshin beat Chunichi.
Swallows 4, Carp 1
At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Tokyo Olympian Munetaka Murakami hit his Japan-best 22nd home run with a man on in the second inning to lead Yakult Swallows to a win over the Carp.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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