After dueling 8-0 blowouts, the Japan Series finally got a close game.
And even though the defending champion Orix Buffaloes got a scare from the Hanshin Tigers late on Halloween night, Orix fans still walked out of Koshien Stadium with a bag full of treats.
Yuma Mune snapped his long hitless streak with a two-run double and made a key play at third base to stamp out a seventh-inning rally to help the Buffaloes pull out a 5-4 win in Game 3 on Tuesday night.
“I didn't feel like I could hit at all,” Mune said. “I just fought. I was persistent, so I thought I could get a hit.”
The Buffaloes now have a leg up with a 2-1 in the first all-Kansai Japan Series since 1964. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Koshien Stadium.
Orix has won two straight games after being routed 8-0 in the series opener.
Mune has been one of the Buffaloes’ core players during their run of three-straight Pacific League pennants and last season’s Japan Series title. He slumped to an 0-for-8 start in the first two games against the Tigers and was 0-for-2 on Tuesday when he came to the plate in the fifth.
Mune’s fortune finally changed during a tense eight-pitch at-bat against Tigers starter Masashi Ito with two runners on. Mune worked the count to 2-2 and took a close pitch that left Ito squatting on the ground in disbelief. He then sent a ball deep to center to drive in a pair of runs.
"I didn't have a great feel on my first swing, so I wasn't sure If I could get a hit or not," Mune said. "But I got the count to 3-2, and knew I could bring in a run if I got it into the outfield."
After the Tigers cut a four-run deficit to one in the seventh, Mune went to the ground to field a hard, two-out, liner to third by Yusuke Oyama and to first to end the inning and the Hanshin rally.
“If the ball got behind me, it would be easier for a runner to come home,” Mune said. “I had to stop it, and I managed to stop it with my body.”
Despite his big night, Mune did is not putting too much into his performance,
“It does not have any special meaning,” he said. “I'm just thinking about how I can add value to the team and contribute to wins.”
The Buffaloes played without a designated hitter, since the contest was being played under Central League rules, and manager Satoshi Nakajima put Pacific League batting champion Yuma Tongu into the lineup as the first baseman.
Tongu injured his toe late in the season and had not started at first base since Sept. 13 and was the DH in the first two games of the Japan Series. He did not have any issues in the field and went 2-for-3, including a game-tying homer in the fourth, before being lifted for a pinch runner in the sixth.
Taishi Hirooka and Kenya Wakatsuki also drove in runs for Orix, while Tomoya Mori had a two-hit night.
Buffaloes starter Kohei Azuma allowed a run on five hits in five innings to earn the win. Closer Yoshihisa Hirano worked the ninth for the save.
Hanshin shortstop Seiya Kinami remained red-hot at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance to improve to 10-for-21 in the postseason.
Ito, the losing pitcher, allowed four runs — two earned — in five innings.
Oyama, the cleanup batter, singled to start the second and reached third when Sheldon Neuse singled into right.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead when Seishiro Sakamoto hit a grounder to second. Hanshin might have had a chance for more runs if not for a great defensive play by Orix second baseman Marwin Gonzalez to keep Sakamoto’s ball from getting through the infield.
Tongu tied the score in the fourth with a home run to center, the first homer by either team during the series.
Orix put runners on first and second to begin the fifth and took the lead when Hirooka hit a grounder to shortstop.
Azuma bunted to move Hirooka to second, but a throwing error by Ito left both runners safe with one out.
Mune stepped to the plate after a flyout by Keita Nakagawa and worked the count full before extending the lead with his two-run double. Wakatsuki tacked on another run for Orix with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Tigers rallied with two hits and a one-out walk to load the bases in the seventh. Takumu Nakano drove in a run with an RBI groundout, and Shota Morishita followed with a two-run single to make the score 5-4.