The Japan Series heads to Osaka for Game 3 on Tuesday with Yakult leading Orix 1-0 after Game 2’s tie. The series will see its first lefty starters, Yakult’s Keiji Takahashi, and Orix’s Hiroya Miyagi.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named the winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award after leading the Pacific League with four complete games, two shutouts, 15 wins, a .750 winning percentage, 193 innings, 205 strikeouts and a 1.68 ERA. It was the second straight season he led in those six categories.
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Thanks to the guys at Pro Yakyu News, we know this was the ninth straight Japan Series game played between Yakult and Orix that was decided by two runs or less, with Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu earning the win in 1995 Game 3, when Yakult scored three in the 10th to beat Ichiro Suzuki’s BlueWave on a three-run walk-off homer.
Bigger than that was the news that Yoshinobu Yamamoto left the game due to discomfort in his left oblique muscles, and his availability for further use is up in the air. The game played out to form with the big power-hitting team winning the outdoor game with offense suppressed by the cold weather as the team that relies the most on a long-sequence offense stranding 12 runners.
Game 1
Swallows 5, Buffaloes 3: At Jingu Stadium, Yakult opened the scoring on a fluke two-run first-inning double. A Yasutaka Shiomi leadoff single, a stolen base and a four-pitch walk to triple crown winner Munetaka Murakami set the table for Jose Osuna, whose sharp grounder hit the outside of the third base bag and rolled into the corner.
