Angel Echevarria hit three homers yesterday to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 9-2 win over the Orix BlueWave.
Echevarria hit solo homers in the second and fifth innings at Sapporo Dome and then added a two-run blast in the sixth, when the Fighters scored five runs to put the game out of reach.
PHOTO: AP
Kiyoshi Sasaki picked up the win after coming on in the sixth in relief of starter Tsutomu Iwamoto, who gave up two runs over 5-1/3 innings.
Fernando Seguignol added a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning for his 10th homer of the season.
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Hiroyuki Nakajima hit a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning off reliever Masahide Kobayashi to lift the Seibu Lions to a 9-5 win over the Lotte Marines.
South Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop hit a three-run homer in the first inning as the Marines jumped out to an early lead.
At Osaka Dome, Fumitoshi Takano hit a two-run homer and Kenshi Kawaguchi drove in the winning run as the Kintetsu Buffaloes scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 win over the Daiei Hawks.
Pedro Valdes hit a pair of homers for the Hawks but Daiei's relievers couldn't hold the lead after rookie Takahiro Mahara held Kintetsu to two runs over seven innings.
Central League
Shinjiro Hiyama and Mike Kinkade both hit solo homers to lead the Hanshin Tigers to a 2-1 win over the slumping Yakult Swallows.
Keiichi Yabu gave up one run on seven hits over seven innings as the Tigers handed the last place Swallows their fourth straight loss.
At Nagoya Dome, Hirokazu Ibata drove in the winning run with a single up the middle in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Chunichi Dragons to a 2-1 win over the Yokohama BayStars.
Chunichi starter Masafumi Hirai picked up the win after giving up one run on four hits over eight innings.
Eiji Ochiai retired the side in the ninth for the save as the Dragons snapped Yokohama's five-game winning streak.
Yokohama reliever Denny Tomori took the loss after giving up a run in the eighth.
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