Rookie catcher Soma Uchiyama hit a three-run ninth-inning pinch-hit home run as the Yakult Swallows salvaged a 3-3 Japan Series Game 2 tie with the Orix Buffaloes on Sunday.
The Central League champs, 5-3 winners in Saturday's Game 1, held on to their 1-0 series lead when the game at their home park, Jingu Stadium, was called a tie after 12 innings.
The Pacific League champion Buffaloes came within a hair of scoring the go-ahead run in the 12th, but pinch-runner Kodai Sano was prevented by the umpires from scoring from second base after a wild pitch rolled out of play.
Uchiyama's homer in his first Japan Series at-bat came off rookie reliever Shota Abe. And though both teams threatened in extra-innings, no more runs were forthcoming.
"It was a tough game, but we did a good job getting runners on base in the late innings, and Soma could tie it with one swing," Swallows skipper Shingo Takatsu said. "Our relievers pitched their hearts out."
After coming up short against Yakult's power in Game 1, Orix built a 3-0 lead by keeping the Swallows in the park for eight innings and catching some breaks on offense when they got runners on base.
Orix starting pitcher Sachiya Yamasaki's little bouncer got past the drawn-in infield to break the ice in the third inning. Two more singles against Yakult starting pitcher Cy Sneed and an error on right fielder Domingo Santana allowed Yamasaki to score Orix's second run.
The Buffaloes added a run in the fifth against new reliever Hiroki Onishi on a Ryoichi Adachi leadoff double and a two-out check-swing dribbler RBI single by Yutaro Sugimoto.
Yamasaki struck out five while stranding six runners over four innings. Orix's bullpen handled Yakult's powerful offense with little trouble until Jacob Waguespack survived an eighth-inning scare and the Swallows got to Abe in the ninth.
A leadoff double by Takeshi Miyamoto and a walk by Yasutaka Shiomi brought Uchiyama to the plate and he blasted the Swallows' fourth home run of the series into the left-field stands.
Abe, however, composed himself and retired the heart of Japan's most dangerous lineup to force extra innings, when neither team could force a decision.
Game 3 is slated for Tuesday at Orix's Kyocera Dome Osaka.
