Masanori Ishikawa pitched seven shutout innings in a duel with fellow lefty Chen Wei-yin, pinch hitter Yasushi Iihara broke a scoreless deadlock with a solo homer in the eighth and the Yakult Swallows beat the Chunichi Dragons 3-1 to take Game 2 of the Central League Climax Series final stage on Thursday.
The CL champion Dragons, who had an automatic one-game lead as the pennant winner, lead the series against the second-place Swallows two games to one after their victory in Game 1 on Wednesday.
"We didn't have that many good chances but Iihara really came through for us in the clutch," said Yakult manager Junji Ogawa.