SAPPORO, Japan (Interstat) — The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters erupted for five runs in the sixth inning to overtake the Saitama Seibu Lions 5-3 on Saturday at Sapporo Dome.

Seibu’s Natsuki Takeuchi pitched five-plus scoreless innings, but the Fighters batted around in the sixth. With two outs, Shun Mizutani hit a two-run double and Kotaro Kiyomiya followed with a two-run triple to cap the rally. Takayoshi Yamamura’s two-run single had given the Lions a lead in the top of the inning.

Winning pitcher Hiromi Itoh allowed two runs over six innings for Nippon-Ham. Taisei Yanagawa secured his fourth save despite allowing a ninth-inning run. The Lions out-hit the Fighters 11-8 but fell to 7-12-1. Attendance was 30,951.