OSAKA -- Tuffy Rhodes finally got that elusive 56th home run -- and not a moment too soon for the Kintetsu Buffaloes.

Rhodes, who equaled the Japan pro baseball single-season home run record by putting 55 over the fence during the regular season, hit what may have been his most crucial shot of the year Sunday evening at the Osaka Dome as the Buffaloes squared the Japan Series at a game apiece with a 9-6 victory over the Yakult Swallows in Game 2 of the fall classic.

With the game tied at 6-6 and with two out and two on in the bottom of the eighth inning, Rhodes teed off on a forkball from hard-throwing Yakult reliever Ryota Igarashi and deposited the ball deep into the upper deck beyond the right-field wall.

"Whatever it takes," Rhodes, who also doubled earlier in the game, said afterward. "We just never give up."

Rhodes, who said he couldn't sleep after his 0-for-3 performance in a 7-0 loss in Game 1 on Saturday night, finished off his post-game hero interview with a cry of "Zettai yusho suru zo!" (We're definitely going to win!), as the packed house went wild.

The Swallows drew first blood once again Sunday. In the top of the second innning, catcher Atsuya Furuta drew a walk and moved to second on a sharp single to right-center from Akinori Iwamura. After Furuta advanced to third on a fielder's choice grounder up the middle by DH Alex Ramirez, second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi hit a high chopper to short that scored Furuta.

If the Buffaloes have an Achilles heel this year, it has been their weak pitching, with the highest team ERA (4.98) in all of Japanese baseball. And it showed in the top of the third.

The speedy Mitsuru Manaka led off the inning with a double down the right-field line and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by shortstop Shinya Miyamoto, who set a Central League record this year with 67 sac bunts in the regular season. Atsunori Inaba then cracked a double off the base of the wall in straight-away center to drive in Manaka. Then the wheels started to fall off for Kintetsu. Starter Hisashi Iwakuma walked slugger Roberto Petagine and then hit Furuta with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Iori Sekiguchi was brought in to face Iwamura, and he promptly drilled him with a pitch in the back of the shoulder to plate another run.

Hiroki Yamamura then replaced Sekiguchi and got Ramirez on a pop-up and Dobashi on a grounder to short to stop the bleeding -- for the time being, anyway.

An inning later, Manaka pulled a solo homer over the fence in right off Yamamura to give Yakult a 4-0 lead.

"It was an inside fastball," Manaka said of the pitch he hit out. "The count was two balls and no strikes, so I was looking for a fastball and I just turned on it."

In the bottom of the frame, the Buffs finally gave the home fans something to cheer about. Norihiro Nakamura, who smacked 46 home runs during the regular season for Kintetsu's potent offense, lined one over the wall in left to get the Buffaloes on the board for the first time in this postseason.

"He (Yakult starter Shugo Fujii) threw me a slider, and I got all of it," Nakamura said. "I really wanted to do something to change the mood on our bench."

But the good times didn't last long. The Swallows got the run back in the top of the fifth when Furuta scored from third on a wild pitch from pitcher Katsuhiko Maekawa, who had replaced Yamamura to start the inning. Furuta probably should have scored earlier in the inning from first on a double down the right-field line by Ramirez, but the gutsy catcher, obviously playing in pain on a gimpy knee, held up at third. Rhodes drove in a run for the Buffs with a sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the fifth, but Kintetsu failed to capitalize on a bigger inning by leaving two runners stranded when Fujii got Koichi Isobe to ground out to second to quell the minor uprising.

Petagine singled in the Swallows' sixth run in the top of the sixth with his first hit of the series. Only a nice running catch by right fielder Isobe on a sinking liner off the bat of Furuta and a strike to home plate to nail Inaba, who was tagging up and trying to score from third, prevented further damage.

Then it was time for Eiji Mizuguchi to play hero in the bottom half of the frame. After Hirotoshi Kitagawa, who went 3-for-4 on the night, doubled and pinch-hitter Fumitoshi Takano drew a walk, Naoyuki Omura singled to score Kitagawa from second and move Takano to third.

That was all for Fujii, who left after giving up seven hits in 52/3 innings. Naoya Shimada took the hill for Yakult and proceeded to give up a three-run homer to Mizuguchi that just barely creeped over the wall in left, knotting the score at 6-6 and breathing new life into the Buffaloes.

"I was just trying to keep the inning alive for Tuffy," Mizuguchi, who hit only three home runs all season, said after his blast.

That set the scene for Rhodes' heroics in the eighth. With late-inning replacement Akihito Fujii on board after a walk and after a single by Mizuguchi, Rhodes cranked out his decisive shot.

Akira Okamoto got the win for Kintetsu, despite pitching just a third of an inning by getting Furuta to pop out to end the Swallows' eighth. Akinori Otsuka picked up the save with a perfect ninth.

The loss went to Igarashi. Buffaloes starter Iwakuma lasted just 21/3 innings, giving up three runs on four hits.

This is the Swallows' fifth Japan Series in the past 10 years, having won the title in 1993, '95 and '97.

The Buffaloes, meanwhile, are chasing their first-ever Japan Series crown and are the only franchise in Japan pro baseball yet to sip from the winner's trophy.

The official announced paid attendance Sunday was 31,820. The series resumes Tuesday evening at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium.