Big air …

Eagles on high after 19-hit explosion, win over Lions

This is pretty close to the team Rakuten front-office envisioned when it asked skipper Senichi Hoshino to take over on the bench.

It has just taken a little longer than they thought.

Akinori Iwamura awoke from zombiedom to launch his first NPB homer since Oct. 19, 2006, and the Eagles pounded out a season-high 19 hits in a 12-1 rout of the Seibu Lions on Saturday.

Teppei Tsuchiya added four hits and two RBIs, and Kazuya Fujita [a recent pickup from Yokohama] also had four hits as the Eagles -- third in the Pacific League -- set themselves up for a series sweep on Sunday.

Kelvin Jimenez (5-7) surrendered an unearned run on three hits and two walks over five innings, and the Eagles broke open a close game with a six-run seventh when batter after batter found cracks, holes and gaps in a soft five-hit, two-walk rally.

Injuries and poor performance have plagued Iwamura, who batted cleanup, since his return from a four-year stint in the states. He hit .183 in 77 games last season for the Eagles and a bad hamstring has hampered his playing time this season.

He came up to the first team the second week June and had two hits last month, but is had a strong week with six hits.

HAWKS 5, FIGHTERS 0

Rookie -- and No. 1 pick in last year’s draft -- Shota Takeda carried a no-hitter two outs into the sixth inning -- yielding a walk and hitting a batter before departing with four Ks -- to lead SoftBank past Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.

Takeda became the first Hawks rookie straight out of high school to win in his debut in 31 years, when the franchise was called the Nankai Hawks.

MARINES 8, BUFFALOES 5

Shunichi Nemoto stroked his fifth longball, a go-ahead two-run shot in the sixth, as Lotte rallied from a 5-1 hole to beat Orix at The Q.

The Marines put up deuces in the sixth, seventh and eighth to turn the tables on the last-place Buffaloes.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

CARP 9, SWALLOWS 4

Takahiro Iwamoto's first four-RBI game of his three-plus-year career helped push Hiroshima past Yakult at The Zoom for its fourth straight win.

Yoshiyuki Ishihara added four hits and Yoshihiro Maru also went deep in a game in which Yakult's Lastings Milledge got run after striking out in the third.

GIANTS 7, TIGERS 5

Yoshinobu Takahashi capped a three-run rally with a scoring fly ball in the fifth and added an RBI single in the seventh to help Yomiuri outlast Hanshin at Tokyo Dome.

Lefty Toshiya Sugiuchi lasted just four innings, serving up eight hits for five runs, but the Giants rallied to bail him out.

DRAGONS 9, BAYSTARS 5

Tony Blanco and Motonobu Tanishige had two hits and two RBIs each as Chunichi jumped out early and beat up Yokohama to win its club-record 13th straight decision at Nagoya Dome.