Baseball: Matsumoto, Yazawa help Fighters overpower Hawks

Go Matsumoto drove in two runs in a 2-for-4 outing and rookie two-way player Kota Yazawa hit his first professional home run as the Nippon Ham Fighters beat the SoftBank Hawks 5-1 in the Pacific League on Sunday.

Matsumoto put the Fighters on the board in the third inning at Es Con Field Hokkaido with a bases-loaded single to right before Chusei Mannami made it 2-0 in the next at-bat, scoring Ryota Isobata with a sacrifice fly.

“We had a big chance, so I thought, why don’t I get a hit and be the hero,” a smiling Matsumoto said in his postgame interview. “My batting hasn’t been outstanding, but...