Triple Crown winner Munetaka Murakami and Jose Osuna each hit two-run homers as the Yakult Swallows beat the Hanshin Tigers 5-3 on Thursday to put themselves one win away from their second consecutive Japan Series appearance.
The Orix Buffaloes also moved within a win of reaching the Japan Series for the second year in a row after beating the SoftBank Hawks 4-3.
Both the Swallows and the Buffaloes won Game 2 to take a three game to zero lead in their respective Climax Series final stage matchups after entering their best-of-seven series with a one-win advantage as league champions.
At a rain-soaked Jingu Stadium, Murakami, the youngest batting Triple Crown winner in Japan at 22, launched an opposite-field home run to left to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the third inning off Shintaro Fujinami.
Murakami struck out twice and walked twice, once intentionally, in his other plate appearances.
Osuna added a two-run shot of his own in the fifth, pushing the Central League champion Swallows' lead to 5-1.
Yakult starter Cy Sneed allowed seven hits and two walks but limited the damage to one run in 5-2/3 innings. Fujinami, who plans to seek a move to the major leagues in the offseason via the posting system, gave up two runs in three innings.
At Kyocera Dome Osaka, Yutaro Sugimoto went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Pacific League champion Buffaloes, including a two-run homer that broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning.
A two-out RBI single by Ukyo Shuto pulled the Hawks within a run in the ninth, but Alfredo Despaigne struck out for the final out with two runners on.
Orix left-hander Hiroya Miyagi struck out seven and allowed two runs in five innings.
In addition to a one-win final-stage advantage, Nippon Professional Baseball allows the higher-seeded teams in the Climax Series to advance if stages end in a tie.
