The Orix Buffaloes did not just rebound from a blowout loss in the opening game of the Japan Series.

The defending champions hit back just as hard.

Hiroya Miyagi was solid on the mound, and the Buffaloes buried former Orix pitcher Yuki Nishi under a series of timely hits in an 8-0 win in Game 2 at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sunday night.

"I'm sorry about yesterday's game," Orix manager Satoshi Nakajima said. "I'm glad we were able to respond today."

The Buffaloes evened the series at 1-1. The scene shifts to Koshien Stadium, the Tigers’ home park, for Game 3 on Tuesday.

Hanshin left Orix fans in shock in Game 1 by scoring seven runs off two-time reigning Pacific League MVP and Sawamura Award winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto during an 8-0 rout in Game 1.

"Yoshinobu lost yesterday, but I was motivated by the thought that I could get back them (the Tigers) if I won," Miyagi said.

As surprising as it was to see Yamamoto falter the way he did, the Buffaloes swallowed the loss and moved on quickly.

"That's the good thing about baseball, there's always a new day to make adjustments," Orix's Leandro Cedeno said.

It is easier to do that, of course, with a pitcher like Miyagi on the mound.

"I was talking with Marwin (Gonzalez) yesterday, and I told him, 'they're going to be in trouble with Miyagi today,'" Cedeno said. "Because they have so many lefties. They're good hitters, the leadoff man and the second guy, they get on base a lot, but we knew if we took away their chances to get on base, we had a chance to win."

Miyagi picked up the pieces after the Game 1 blowout to help the Buffaloes avoid falling into a 2-0 hole before going on the road. He pitched himself into a slight pinch in the fourth, with runners on first and second, before striking out Sheldon Neuse to end the threat.

"I think there was pressure on him, but he did a good job of responding to it," Nakajima said.

The lefty held down the Hanshin lineup for six scoreless frames, limiting the Tigers to four singles and a walk while striking out five.

"He threw a really good game today," said Gonzalez, who hit a three-run double in the eighth. "He kept them off balance, he mixed his pitches and it was a good win for us."

The Buffaloes’ hitters fared much better against Nishi, who spent his first 10 seasons with Orix, than they had against Shoki Murakami in Game 1.

Taishi Hirooka, acquired in a trade with the Yomiuri Giants in May, singled with one out in the third and later moved to second when Nishi committed a throwing error. Masahiro Nishino drove him in with a two-out triple to give Orix its first run of the game and the series.

"It's been a while for me to run all the way to third base, and my legs were kind of wobbly," he joked. "I just didn't want to make an out."

Yuma Mune drew a two-out walk in the fourth, and that small spark was all it took to ignite the offense. Kotaro Kurebayashi followed with a single to center, and Tomoya Noguchi, Hirooka and Keita Nakagawa hit consecutive RBI singles to extend the lead to 4-0.

That sent Nishi to the showers after allowing four runs in 3⅔ innings.

Orix loaded the bases in the seventh, and Gonzalez blew the game open with a base-clearing double off the wall to make the score 7-0.

"I was already down 0-2, I was just trying to make contact and put the ball in play," he said. "I was lucky enough to get that pitch right down the middle and drive it."

The Buffaloes pushed across another run on an error in the eighth.

Nakajima has developed a penchant for pushing the right buttons and his instincts paid off again in Game 3.

He made three changes to his lineup after watching his team be held to just two hits in Game 1. Those three players all contributed, with Nishino and Hirooka driving in runs and Cedeno recording the first hit of the three-run seventh.

Orix sent three members of Japan's World Baseball Classic team to the mound in succession to start the game, as reliever Yuki Udagawa followed Miyagi with a scoreless seventh before Soichiro Yamazaki worked a scoreless eighth. Atsuya Kogita worked the ninth.

Takumu Nakano continued his hot start to the series for the Tigers by following up a three-hit night in Game 1 with two hits and a walk on Sunday.

Yusuke Oyama and Teruaki Sato had the only other hits for the Tigers.