Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 7
Orix Buffaloes 2

(Kyocera Dome)

Third-place Hokkaido advanced to the second stage of the Pacific League Climax Series with a big, series-clinching win over second place Orix. They will now face Pacific League champions, the Saitama Seibu Lions, in a five six game, best-of-”seven” series (Saitama starts with a one-game advantage) that will decide who heads to the Japan Series to square off against the winner from the Central League.

Former Tokyo Swallows starter, Shugo Fujii, started and pitched well for the Fighters. He allowed only five batters to reach base (three hits, two walks) in a little over six innings and gave up one earned run. His playoff ERA now stands at 1.50.

Tsuboi carried the offense for Hokkaido by going 4-4 with one rbi. Second baseman, Tanaka, had three hits, and Jason Botts went 2-3 with a two-run home run in the seventh.

Satoshi Komatsu (3.00 playoff ERA) started for Orix and gave up three runs (two earned) in six innings of work.

Alex Cabrera and Tuffy Rhodes had an rbi each in this game.

Hokkaido swept the series 2-0.