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.