By Hiroki Noda,
Rookie Shota Morishita's two-run triple keyed a six-run eighth-inning rally as the Hanshin Tigers beat the Orix Buffaloes 6-2 in Thursday's Game 5 to lead the Japan Series three games to two.
With one more win, the Central League champion Tigers will capture their first Japan Series title since 1985 and only their second pro baseball championship in their long history.
Morishita turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead by tripling to left-center off flame-throwing reliever Yuki Udagawa, and Yusuke Oyama followed with an RBI single at Koshien Stadium.
"I made a run-scoring error before our eighth-inning rally," Morishita said. "My teammates got on base to set the stage for me, so I wanted to drive them in no matter what."
Udagawa, a member of Japan's 2023 World Baseball Classic-winning team, was pitching for the fourth straight game. In his previous three appearances, he struck out six of the 12 batters he faced while allowing just one hit.
After Koji Chikamoto's RBI single brought Hanshin to within a run, Udagawa took the mound to face Morishita with one out and runners on second and third. The rookie hit a 2-2 fastball from the right-hander.
"I have no regrets about that pitch, but I just feel bad for being unable to meet the manager's expectations," Udagawa said. "I was determined to escape the jam with my fastball. The catcher wanted it high but my fastball went a little lower."
"That pitch cost us a game, making me realize the importance of one pitch in baseball."
Seishiro Sakamoto then tripled in two insurance runs, off Shota Abe, who relieved Udagawa.
"This was the last game of the year at our Koshien," Hanshin manager Akinobu Okada said in a post-game on-field interview. "We couldn't get anything going through seven innings, but at the very last, it was like all that we accomplished this whole season clicked for us and we rallied. It was a team effort."
Asked to comment on Morishita's go-ahead triple, Okada said, "He had been terrible today, but at the end, with everybody saying to each other, 'take it up the middle, take it up the middle,' and in his final at-bat, he took care of business the way a No. 3 hitter should."
Orix second baseman Marwin Gonzalez hit a solo home run in the fourth, and an error by Morishita in right pushed the Buffaloes' lead to 2-0 in the seventh.
The Pacific League champions appeared to have total control of the game after left-handed starter Daiki Tajima threw seven shutout innings.
The first Japan Series between teams from the western Kansai region since 1964 will move back to Kyocera Dome Osaka on Saturday for Game 6.
The Buffaloes will try to stay alive for their second consecutive Japan Series championship and their franchise's sixth, including the 1996 title won by the Ichiro Suzuki-led Orix BlueWave.
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