Baseball: Fighters rookie Tamiya takes down Hawks

Rookie Yua Tamiya hit a three-run home run to power the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 4-3 victory Sunday over the SoftBank Hawks, who fell into a tie for second place as one of the three teams battling for two Pacific League playoff spots.

The Hawks are now dead even with the Rakuten Eagles, 8-2 winners over the league champion Orix Buffaloes, and a half-game ahead of the Lotte Marines, who got past the Seibu Lions 3-2.

Tamiya, a catcher who started in left field at Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, batted in the third with two on and no outs with his team trailing 2-1. He turned on a straight inside fastball...