Baseball: Yanagita slam leads Hawks into final stage showdown

Yuki Yanagita opened the scoring with a third-inning grand slam as the SoftBank Hawks crushed the Seibu Lions 8-2 on Sunday to wrap up the Pacific League Climax Series' first stage in a two-game sweep.

The Hawks will now travel to Osaka to take on the two-time defending PL champion Orix Buffaloes in the best-of-seven final stage, starting Wednesday.

Yanagita, who hit a three-run homer in Saturday's 5-3 win at PayPay Dome, drove the ball into the dome's "home run terrace" with an awkward swing after Lions starter Tatsuya Imai loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman.

"He (Yanagita) has really been in good form since the tail-end of the season, although I'm sure he's tired after the long season," said first-year Hawks skipper Hiroshi Fujimoto.

Hawks right-hander Nao Higashihama allowed a run on four hits and a walk over five innings and SoftBank piled on the runs in their bid to reach the Japan Series for the first time in two years.

At Yokohama Stadium, the DeNA BayStars forced the Central League's first stage to go a decisive third game with a 1-0 win at home over the Hanshin Tigers. Shinichi Onuki struck out 10, while allowing two hits over 6-1/3 innings to earn the win.

Reliever Hiromu Ise struck out three of the five batters he faced, and Yasuaki Yamasaki worked a perfect ninth in the pouring rain.

Former Tiger Yamato Maeda singled in the game's only run in the fifth off Hanshin starter Masashi Ito.

The BayStars, who finished second in the league, will advance to the final stage with a win or a tie in Monday's Game 3.

© Kyodo News