Kazuo Matsui's seventh homer of the season could not have come at a more important time as his two-run walk-off shot in the 10th inning gave the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles a 3-1 win against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks on Monday.
With one out and Kazuya Fujita on first, team captain Matsui took fellow former major leaguer Hideki Okajima (0-2) deep into the left-field bleachers for Rakuten's sixth sayonara win of the year.
"I had a couple of other chances earlier that I couldn't capitalize on and I was feeling bad about that," said Matsui, whose only hit of the game in five at-bats turned out to be the home run.