Adam Jones delivered for the second straight day, homering twice for the Orix Buffaloes on Saturday in a 5-2 Pacific League win over the Seibu Lions.
One day after the five-time American League all-star drove in all three Buffaloes runs in their win, Jones homered twice off 38-year-old lefty Tetsuya Utsumi (0-1), who was pitching for the first time in two years.
Utsumi retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced at Osaka's Kyocera Dome before a fourth-inning single and his throwing error brought Jones up with two on and one out.
Jones, who said Friday that he wanted to be aggressive on the first pitch after failing to produce in too many scoring opportunities, lofted Utsumi's first pitch over the left-field wall for his seventh home run.
"I just wanted to get a ball up and drive in the runner. I was fortunate to hit it out of the ballpark," Jones said.
Buffaloes starting pitcher Chang Yi (1-1) allowed five hits over five scoreless innings after pitching out of tight spots in the third and fourth innings. Chang walked one batter and hit one while striking out six.
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The Lions got on the board in the sixth when six-time PL home run champ Takeya Nakamura hit his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot off right-hander Keisuke Sawada.
Jones struck again in the sixth, when he came up with two outs and none on and rocketed Utsumi's first pitch out to left, this time on a line into the second deck.
"The second one was a lot more fun," Jones said. "I tried to be aggressive and not let the pitcher get ahead (in the count) with a strike. And I didn't miss it at all."
Utsumi was charged with four runs, three earned, on three hits, a walk and a hit batsman. He struck out four.
The Lions came within a hair of turning the game around in the seventh, scoring a run off Orix's third pitcher, lefty Nobuyoshi Yamada. With two outs and two on, the Buffaloes called on setup man Tyler Higgins to put out the fire.
Higgins walked the bases loaded and lucked into the third out when shortstop Koji Oshiro went as high as he could to pull down a drive off the bat of Nakamura that might have tied it.
After a scoreless eighth by Higgins, the Buffaloes plated an insurance run on an RBI double by defensive substitute Yuya Oda.
Orix closer Brandon Dickson overcame a poor start to the ninth but a good play in left by Oda, a base-running error by the Lions and a double play earned the right-hander his eighth save.
The Buffaloes improved to 2-0 since Satoshi Nakajima took over as acting manager after skipper Norifumi Nishimura stepped down on Thursday.
At Sapporo Dome, Nippon Ham Fighters ace Kohei Arihara (3-5) allowed a run over seven innings in a 5-1 win over the Rakuten Eagles. Fighters cleanup hitter Sho Nakata drove in three runs and hit his Japan-best 20th home run.
At Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium, Yuki Yanagita hit his 17th home run, a massive, two-run shot that sailed high over the center-field fence, and a tie-breaking RBI double to lift the SoftBank Hawks to a 3-2 win over the Lotte Marines.
In the Central League, 23-year-old Cuban rookie Yariel Rodriguez (2-0) allowed two hits and two walks over six innings, while Shuhei Takahashi homered and drove in three runs as the Chunichi Dragons beat the DeNA BayStars 5-0 at Nagoya Dome.
At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Daichi Osera (5-2) allowed two runs over eight innings, and the Hiroshima Carp hitters drew nine walks in a 10-4 win over the Yomiuri Giants.
At Tokyo's Jingu Stadium, Yuki Nishi (4-3) allowed a run over seven innings and the Hanshin Tigers survived a late comeback to beat the Yakult Swallows 7-5.
