SAPPORO (Interstat) — The Nippon-Ham Fighters erupted for five home runs Thursday night, routing the Orix Buffaloes 9-1 at Sapporo Dome. Kohei Arihara pitched six innings of six-hit ball, allowing one earned run and striking out three to improve to 2-5. Kengo Yoshida went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs, and Tatsuki Mizuno also homered and drove in two. Shun Mizutani, Franmil Reyes and Chusei Mannami added solo shots as the Fighters amassed 15 hits. Nippon-Ham scored four in the first on consecutive homers, then added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth and two in the sixth. Orix’s only run came in the top of the first on a solo homer by Ryoma Nishikawa, who was 2-for-4. The Buffaloes managed eight hits. Kazuma Satoh took the loss. Ryusei Gonda threw three innings of relief for Orix, allowing one earned run. Kenta Uehara and Shoma Kanemura each pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts for Nippon-Ham. The Fighters improved to 45-33-1, while Orix fell to 38-36-1. Attendance was 29,276. Time of game was 2 hours, 57 minutes.