The Pacific League's Orix Buffaloes beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 2-0 on Thursday while the Central League's Tokyo Yakult Swallows downed the Yomiuri Giants 5-0 as both league champs moved to within a win or a tie of securing Japan Series berths.
Yutaro Sugimoto hit a two-run home run for the Buffaloes at Kyocera Dome Osaka. In Tokyo's CL contest, Yasutaka Shiomi hit a game-breaking three-run triple to boost the Swallows. Both Orix and Yakult took 3-0 leads in their best-of-seven Climax Series final stages.
Sugimoto broke a scoreless deadlock with a two-run sixth-inning home run on the first pitch by reliever Yusuke Azuma. The PL home run leader singled his first two times up against starter Manabu Mima.