Taishi Nakagawa blasted a solo home run in the 10th inning off Scott Mathieson to lift the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to a come-from-behind win over the Yomiuri Giants 4-3 in interleague action on Sunday.

With the game tied 3-3, Nakagawa led off the bottom of the 10th and hit a fastball into the stands in left to lift the Eagles to victory over the three-time defending Central League champs in front of a packed house at Kobo Stadium Miyagi.

“It was 2-0, a hitter’s count, so I was looking fastball and wanted to put a big swing on it,” said the 24-year-old Nakagawa, who has played almost exclusively in the minors since the Eagles selected him as their second draft pick in 2008.

“Yesterday, the pitchers really battled, but we were unable to come up with that one big hit and we lost. I was given another chance to start, so hitting the home run today feels great.”

The right-handed-hitting Nakagawa, who is only now getting his first taste of regular playing time, started all three games against the Giants in Sendai and plated at least one run in each game.

Second-year closer Yuki Matsui (1-0) got the win after allowing one hit in two scoreless innings of relief, while Mathieson (0-3) took the loss after just three pitches.

The game started as an enthralling pitchers’ duel between Giants rookie Hayato Takagi, who came in looking for his seventh win, and 2013 Pacfic League rookie of the year Takahiro Norimoto.

Takagi allowed three runs on five hits and a walk over eight innings, while striking out eight. Norimoto gave up eight hits and a walk, while striking out six. He also allowed three runs in eight innings.

The Giants opened the scoring in the third on a triple by Daiki Yoshikawa, and back-to-back RBI singles from Itaru Hashimoto and Soichiro Tateoka.

The Eagles tied it in the sixth on a walk by Wily Mo Pena, a double by former New York Yankee Zelous Wheeler and a triple by Kazuya Fujita. A solo homer by Mitsutaka Goto made it 3-2 Eagles in the seventh, but Norimoto surrendered the lead in the eighth.

Hirokazu Ibata legged out a leadoff double and pinch runner Yasuyuki Kataoka scored on a double by Yoshikawa to tie it. But the Giants could make nothing happen against Matsui, and Nakagawa had the last word.

Fighters 8, Dragons 6

At Sapporo Dome, Hokkaido Nippon Ham sent 10 men to the plate in a five-run first against Chunichi’s Raul Valdes (2-5) and hung on to victory behind five solid innings from rookie Kohei Arihara (2-1).

Lions 9, Tigers 4

At Seibu Prince Dome, Takeya Nakamura’s fourth home run in four games, a three-run shot, brought Seibu from behind in a win over Hanshin. It was Nakamura’s 15th homer of the season.

Carp 2, Buffaloes 1

At Kyocera Dome, Hiroshima’s Yuya Fukui (4-1) won a mound duel over Orix’s Yuki Nishi, who struck out 13 in seven frames but surrendered a game-tying RBI triple to Nate Schierholtz in his last inning. Schierholtz’s ball bounced in front and over center fielder Shunta Goto and rolled to the wall. Ryuhei Matsuyama slugged solo homer in the eighth off Tatsuya Sato (1-5) to break the tie.

Hawks 5, Swallows 2

At Yafuoku Dome, Hiroaki Takaya’s two-run homer in the fourth, his first circuit blast in seven years, restored Fukuoka Softbank’s three-run cushion over Tokyo Yakult. Hayato Terahara (2-0) allowed two runs in five innings to earn the win.

Marines 9, BayStars 5

At QVC Marine Field, Daichi Suzuki and Katsuya Kakunaka slammed solo home runs in a row in the first as Chiba Lotte racked up a 6-0 lead and held off a late surge from Yokohama.