Chusei Mannami of the Nippon Ham Fighters hits a solo home run in the seventh inning against the SoftBank Hawks in a Pacific League baseball game on Aug. 22, 2025, at Es Con Field Hokkaido in the city of Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido. (Kyodo)
KITAHIROSHIMA, Hokkaido (Kyodo) — Chusei Mannami hit a tiebreaking solo home run in the seventh inning as the Nippon Ham Fighters edged the SoftBank Hawks 4-3 on Friday.
The second-place Fighters cut the Hawks’ lead in the Pacific League to 2-1/2 games by taking the opener of their three-game series at Es Con Field Hokkaido, just outside Sapporo.
Mannami broke a 3-3 tie with an opposite-field shot to right off Koya Fujii (2-3) leading off the seventh. Kenta Uehara (2-0) won in relief.
Among the day’s other games, Kazuma Okamoto hit his first home run since he returned from a three-month elbow injury absence as the Yomiuri Giants trounced the DeNA BayStars 8-1.
AloJapan.com