Baseball: Kondo powers Hawks past Fighters

Kensuke Kondo broke an early tie and belted a two-run home run against his former team to help lift the SoftBank Hawks to a 6-3 Pacific League victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday.

Kondo, who joined the Hawks as a free agent over the winter, delivered a sacrifice fly in the third inning at Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome to give SoftBank a 2-1 lead.

Hawks starting pitcher Koya Fujii (3-2) allowed a run on four hits and three walks while striking out six over six innings to earn the win. Kondo made it 4-1 in the fifth with his fourth home run of the season.

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