The Hiroshima Carp defeated the DeNA BayStars 4-2 on Sunday to sweep their best-of-three Central League Climax Series' first stage in two games to set up a clash with the CL champion Hanshin Tigers.
Kosuke Tanaka came off the bench with no outs and the bases loaded in a 2-2 eighth-inning tie at Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium. The 34-year-old veteran smashed the first pitch from reliever Taiga Kamichatani into right to give his team the lead.
"It wasn't about me in that situation but about everyone on the team pulling together from the first inning and doing their part," Tanaka said.
Shogo Akiyama's sacrifice fly made it 4-2, and closer Ryoji Kuribayashi worked a scoreless ninth to earn the save and send the Carp to the CLCS final stage at Koshien Stadium starting Wednesday.
The Carp jumped in front on Ryoma Nishikawa's first-inning home run off lefty ace Shota Imanaga, and after 5⅓ scoreless innings from Carp starter Masato Morishita, Shota Suekane's pinch-hit homer made it 2-0 in the sixth.
The BayStars tied it in the seventh on a Taiki Sekine RBI single and a Neftali Soto sacrifice fly.
The Pacific League's first stage, however, will go on to a Game 3 on Monday after the visiting third-place SoftBank Hawks evened the series at Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium at one game apiece with a 3-1 win over the second-place Lotte Marines.
Yuki Yanagita broke a 1-1 tie with a third-inning double before scoring on an Akira Nakamura single.
Monday's winner will face the PL champion Orix Buffaloes in the final stage starting Wednesday, while Lotte will advance to the final stage in case of a tie.