A change in scenery got the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters back in their comfort zone and back in the Japan Series.
With former star Yu Darvish watching as a guest commentator for the television broadcast, Atsunori Inaba roused a slumping offense with an early home run, and reliever Hirotoshi Masui escaped a bases-loaded no-out jam in the eighth with the lead as the Fighters got back into the Japan Series with a 7-3 win on Tuesday at Sapporo Dome.
"We won the first game here, but we have two more games at home before we go back to Tokyo," Fighters manager Hideki Kuriyama said. "We hope to win again tomorrow and Thursday and head back to Tokyo leading three games to two. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for us to take the series.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.