All he needed was one strong swing. After the inning, he ended up coming out of the dugout to wave his hat to the excited fans.
Pinch hitter Nobuhiko Matsunaka smacked the first pitch from Seibu reliever Kazuhisa Makita into the right-field stands for a game-insuring grand
slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to guide the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks to a 7-2 victory over the Seibu Lions in Game 2 of the Pacific
League Climax Series final stage on Friday night.
League champ Softbank entered the series with one-win advantage and is now one win away from advancing to the Japan Series for the first time since 2003.