Hirokazu Ibata made Shohei Tateyama pay in the worst way, breaking a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the sixth inning as the Chunichi Dragons held off the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in a 2-1 victory to book a spot in the Japan Series for the second consecutive year on Sunday.
The Central League champion Dragons, who had an automatic one-win advantage as the league champion, won the Climax Series final stage four games to two against the second-place Swallows, setting up a meeting with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the best-of-seven Japan Series that gets under way on Saturday at Yahoo Dome.
Outgoing Chunichi manager Hiromitsu Ochiai will aim to bring home the championship trophy for the first time since achieving the feat for the first time in 53 years in five games against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2007.