Munetaka Murakami finally got the home run Tokyo Yakult Swallows fans had been waiting all night for in the top of the eighth inning.

For once, however, the Swallows’ prolific slugger was late to the party.

Yasutaka Shiomi hit a tiebreaking home run in the third inning, Jose Osuna connected in the fourth and the Swallows got off to a soaring start in their Japan Series rematch against the Orix Buffaloes with a 5-3 win in Game 1 at Jingu Stadium on Saturday night.

The Swallows did it by going through Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who led all NPB pitchers in wins, strikeouts and ERA this season.

"Everybody knows he's the best pitcher in Japan," Osuna said. "We had a good game against him. We are playing really good."

The Swallows lead the best-of-seven series 1-0. Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday night.

“We got off to a good start in the first game,” Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time from here.”

Yakult won Game 6 to clinch the title last year and picked up where it left off this year with four runs against Yamamoto.

The Buffaloes, meanwhile, are hoping Game 1 is the only thing they lost after Yamamoto left with an injury in the fifth.

Yamamoto motioned to the bench after throwing a pitch against pinch hitter Patrick Kivlehan to begin the inning and later left the mound with the Buffaloes’ pitching coach. He was relieved by Motoki Higa.

The team said he left the game due to feeling a cramp on his left side. Yamamoto received treatment and returned to the dugout to watch the remainder of the contest.

Yakult’s batters got the best of the 15-game winner before the injury. Yamamoto surrendered four runs on four hits in four-plus innings, his shortest outing of the year.

The Swallows got after Yamamoto early. Shiomi singled off the first pitch in the bottom of the first and Murakami reached base on a four-pitch walk with two outs. Osuna drove them both in with a double that landed close to foul territory near third base but was ruled fair by the umpire.

Orix tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the second, but Shiomi restored the home team's advantage with his homer to start the third.

Osuna began the fourth by crushing a first-pitch cutter, sending the ball deep to left-center for the Swallows' fourth run against Yamamoto.

"I had a good swing and I knew I hit it good," Osuna said. "I knew that was gonna be a homer."

Shiomi and Osuna’s homers marked the first time Yamamoto allowed two in the same game this season. He gave up just six in 201 innings, including the Climax Series, in 2022.

Swallows starter Yasuhiro Ogawa benefited from the run support and picked up his first Japan Series victory in three outings. Ogawa allowed two runs on six hits over five innings.

Osuna and Shiomi each finished with three hits for the Swallows. Osuna also finished with three RBIs.

Murakami's highly anticipated showdown against Yamamoto ended with a walk his first time up and a groundout the next time. Fans held up mobile phones and cameras during the 22-year-old slugger’s at-bats after watching him hit 56 homers during the regular season to pass Sadaharu Oh for the most by a Japan-born player. Murakami flied out in his next at-bat before connecting on a homer to right in the eighth.

Yakult star Tetsuto Yamada, however, had a tough night, finishing 0-for-4 and becoming the seventh player to strike out four times in a Japan Series contest and the fifth to do it in consecutive at-bats.

Kotaro Kurebayashi drove in a run for Orix in the second Shuhei Fukuda drew a bases-loaded walk in the same frame. Takehiro Okada pulled the Buffaloes within a run with an RBI single in the eighth.