Sheldon Neuse homered and drove in four runs and Koyo Aoyagi threw 4-2/3 scoreless innings as the Hanshin Tigers won their first Japan Series championship since 1985 by beating the defending champion Orix Buffaloes 7-1 in Sunday's Game 7.
Center fielder and leadoff man Koji Chikamoto had 14 hits and was named series MVP.
Neuse broke up a scoreless game with his second home run of the series for the Central League champions, a three-run fourth-inning shot off lefty Hiroya Miyagi at Orix's Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Neuse, whose Game 6 homer accounted for Hanshin's only run in Saturday's loss to Orix ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, hammered a 1-2 pitch out to left with one out.
"I had two strikes with runners in scoring position and I was just trying to get a base hit," said Neuse, who got the series final put out with a catch in left field.
"I looked at Chikamoto and he didn't say anything and I called him off, and put it right in my pocket. This is what we played for all year. I'm very thankful that I'm here and glad I was able to contribute."
Aoyagi, who had taken a beating in his last two starts in September, completely baffled the Buffaloes hitters, who rarely made good contact. The side-armer allowed four hits and a walk while striking out three.
On the other side, Miyagi, the winner of Game 2 and last year's Game 7 clincher, only held the Tigers scoreless through three thanks to solid plays from two-time Golden Glove-winning third baseman Yuma Mune.
The Tigers chased Miyagi in a three-run fifth, with two of those runs charged to the Orix starter, who allowed five runs on five hits and a hit batsman over 4-2/3 innings. Neuse delivered the last of Hanshin's three straight RBI singles.
Masashi Ito, Hanshin's Game 3 starter and losing pitcher, worked three scoreless innings of relief to take the shutout to the ninth, where Yuma Tongu spoiled it with his third home run of the series, off Tigers closer Suguru Iwazaki.
Chikamoto said the impact of the series really hit him in Game 4, when Yusuke Oyama's RBI single broke a ninth-inning tie, and the noise at the Tigers' Koshien stadium was turned to full volume.
"We came out to play hard each and every game, and the result was that we played good games," Chikamoto said. "The amazing support we got from our fans at Koshien when Yusuke won Game 4 with that walk-off single really made the ballpark shake. Today, too, was unbelievable."
Tigers manager Akinobu Okada summed up the entertaining series.
"I think this series captivated fans from all around the country," he said. "We wanted to leave these games with no regrets, and to that end, the players all carried out their roles as the best they could."
"Orix was really a tough opponent. Right until the very end, it was not clear who would be on top at the end. As the final games of the season, I think we were able to deliver some good ballgames."
This year's contest was the first Japan Series between teams from western Japan's Kansai region since 1964, when the Nankai Hawks, currently the SoftBank Hawks, defeated the Tigers four games to three.
The Buffaloes have won the last three Pacific League pennants but fell short of a second straight Japan Series championship and a sixth in their franchise's history.
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