Kris Johnson took the mound in front of the Hiroshima Carp's red-clad fans and threw warmup tosses. His usual warmup music, the song "White Ranger Tiger Power" from the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" TV show, rang out around Mazda Stadium.
Then Johnson went out and did what he always seems to do in the postseason: performed like a superhero himself.
Johnson handed the Carp a 1-0 lead in the Japan Series with a Game 2 performance that was at times dominating during Hiroshima's 5-1 win over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The win came after Game 1 ended in a tie. Johnson struck out seven over seven innings of one-run ball, holding the Hawks without an extra-base hit.