Kobe – The Tokyo Yakult Swallows overcame the best pitcher in Japan to become the best team in Japan.
Pinch hitter Shingo Kawabata hit a bloop single to left to bring in the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th, and reliever Scott McGough closed out an entertaining Japan Series as the Swallows won the title with a 2-1 victory over the Orix Buffaloes at Hotto Motto Field Kobe on a chilly Saturday night.
Yakult won the series 4-2.
Yasutaka Shiomi hit a two-out single in the 12th and moved to second on a passed ball. Kawabata, who had 30 hits as a pinch hitter this season, one fewer than the franchise record, sent Ryo Yoshida’s seventh pitch into shallow left as the speedy Shiomi came home.
The Swallows won their first Japan Series title since 2001 and claimed the first by a Central League team since 2012 to end a run of dominance by Pacific League clubs.
Yakult had to overcome a Herculean performance by Orix ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto to get it done. Yamamoto pitched nine innings of one-run ball and struck out 11 on 141 pitches before turning over a tie game to the bullpen in the 10th.
McGough, who had been on the losing end of two games during the series, got the ultimate revenge by finishing off the Buffaloes with 2⅓ innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. Yoshida was charged with the loss.
The title caps a stunning turnaround for a team that finished last in the Central League in 2019 and 2020.
Game 6 was another close game in a series full of them.
Swallows first baseman Jose Osuna, who doubled in his first at-bat, began the fifth with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Naomichi Nishiura lined out to third for the second out, but Yasutaka Shiomi singled to left and Osuna scored from second to make the score 1-0.
Orix catcher Kenya Wakatsuki was called out at first on a grounder to second with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but was later ruled safe on a replay review. Ryo Ota moved him over with a bunt and Shuhei Fukuda tied the score with a single to shallow left.
Tetsuto Yamada and Munetaka Murakami reached on errors to begin the Yakult half of the sixth. The Swallows failed to take advantage, as Domingo Santana hit into a double play and Yuhei Nakamura grounded out to short.
Swallows reliever Noboru Shimizu kept the Buffaloes off the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth to send an NPB game into extra innings for the first time this year. The league capped games at nine innings in 2021, but adjusted the rules to allow Japan Series contests to last 12 innings.
Neither team could get another run across the plate until Kawabata’s clutch hit in the 12th.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times