In what might have been his last game in Japanese pro baseball, Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game Saturday to even the Japan Series at three games apiece in a 5-1 Game 6 win over the Hanshin Tigers and force a Game 7.
Yamamoto, who hopes to move to Major League Baseball via the posting system this winter, struck out a Japan Series record 14 while allowing nine hits in a 138-pitch outing at Orix's Kyocera Dome Osaka.
The win represented redemption for Yamamoto, who surrendered seven runs in an 8-0 Game 1 defeat a week earlier. The ace's comeback required him to pitch out of a couple of huge jams with some big strikeouts, and a huge assist from his defense.
Moments after Hanshin's Seiya Kinami saved a run with his glove at shortstop, Sheldon Neuse opened the scoring with the Tigers' first home run of the series, a second-inning opposite-field home run.
Yamamoto left the bags filled with Tigers runners, and Orix took the lead in the home half. Three hits, the last a single by catcher Kenya Wakatsuki, tied it. Keita Nakagawa's deep sacrifice fly put the Buffaloes in front.
A big catch against the wall in right by regular Orix catcher Tomoya Mori with two on robbed the Tigers of at least one run in the fourth, and the Buffaloes widened their lead in the fifth on Kotaro Kurebayashi's two-run home run.
Game 1 winner, rookie Shoki Murakami, allowed four runs over five innings before being replaced by Game 2 loser, Yuki Nishi, in the sixth.
Yuma Tongu hit his second homer of the series to make it 5-1 in the eighth.
