Baseball: Yamakawa, Wada shine as Hawks pound Eagles some more

Hotaka Yamakawa homered twice and drove in five runs while 43-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada pitched seven innings Wednesday as the Pacific League-leading SoftBank Hawks trounced the Rakuten Eagles for the second straight night, 12-0.

A day after the Hawks hammered Rakuten 21-0, Yamakawa hit a three-run home run in a five-run first and a two-run shot in a four-run second at Kyocera Dome Osaka.

Wada (2-0) allowed three hits and no walks over seven innings en route to his 160th career win in Japan.

Yamakawa started the day tied with Yakult's Munetaka Murakami for Nippon Professional Baseball's home run lead and now leads both leagues with 12.

The Hawks have won six in a row, while the Eagles stumbled to their first four-game losing streak of the season.

In other action on Wednesday, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo hit his third home run since returning to Japanese ball this spring from the United States, a two-run shot that lifted the DeNA BayStars to a 2-1 Central League win over the Yakult Swallows.

© Kyodo News