Yoshitomo Tsutsugo homered and drove in four runs on Sunday, November 3 as the Yokohama DeNA BayStars hammered the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 11-2 to win their first Japan Series championship in 26 years and their third title overall.
Yokohama manager Daisuke Miura, who was a pitcher for the BayStars when the team last won the Japan Series in 1998, recalled the many years of struggle it took to get back to the top.
"This is an incredible feeling," Miura said in a postgame interview. "After 1998, it was very difficult for us to repeat but we finally did it. I just told my players to take it one game at a time."
The BayStars lost the first two games of the best-of-seven Japan Series at home and then went to Fukuoka and won all three games on the road against a team that was heavily favored to win it all.
BayStars Grab the Lead in the 2nd Inning
Tsutsugo got the home team rolling in Game 6 at Yokohama Stadium with a solo homer into the right-field stands off SoftBank starter Kohei Arihara in the second inning.
Arihara was SoftBank's best pitcher in the regular season but was unusually shaky in Sunday's contest.
After Tsutsugo's homer, Masayuki Kuwahara, who was named series MVP, drove in two more runs with a single to left that scored the runners from second and third. Kuwahara batted .391 (9-for-23) with a homer and six RBIs in the series.
Arihara then issued a bases-loaded walk in the third that made it 4-0.
The Pacific League champions showed signs of making a game of it in the top of the fourth when 36-year-old veteran Yuki Yanagita connected for a two-run homer off Yokohama starter Shinichi Ohnuki.
BayStars Pull Away with 7-Run Outburst in the 5th
But any chance of a comeback seemed all but impossible after the BayStars erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth when SoftBank's pitching came off the rails.
Carter Stewart Jr walked in a run with the bases loaded to make it 5-2.
Kouki Kajiwara then hit a bases-loaded single off Stewart, widening the advantage to 6-2.
SoftBank manager Hiroki Kokubo had seen enough of Stewart and replaced him with Shunsuke Iwai, who promptly drilled Tyler Austin with the bases-loaded to walk in yet another run.
Tsutsugo then hit a bases-loaded double to drive in three more runs to make it 10-2 and the floodgates were open. Toshiro Miyazaki doubled in another run to complete the big inning.
After finishing third in the Central League standings in the regular season (71-69-3), the BayStars eliminated the defending Japan Series champion Hanshin Tigers and the CL champion Yomiuri Giants in the Climax Series.
They became the first team in NPB to finish third in the standings and win the Japan Series since the Chiba Lotte Marines did so in 2010.
The Hawks finished the regular season with the best record in all of Nippon Professional Baseball (91-49-3). They had won six of the last 10 Japan Series titles.
Their big hitters like Hotaka Yamakawa, who led the PL with 34 homers in the regular season, and Kensuke Kondoh, who had the best batting average of .314, just didn't come through when it mattered most.
Tsutsugo Achieves Goal of Winning the Japan Series
For Tsutsugo, it was a storybook finish to the season. Tsustugo left the BayStars in 2019 for three difficult seasons in MLB before playing in the minor leagues in 2023 and 2024.
He came back to Yokohama in April and was used rather sparingly by Miura. But he came to life just at the right time to put his team over the hump in Game 6.
"Tsutsugo came back to Japan to help this team win the Japan Series and today he lived up to his promise," Miura said.
Effective Pitching for the BayStars
After Ohnuki, who allowed two run and five hits in four innings, four Yokohama pitchers combined to hold the Hawks off the scoresheet the rest of the way. Yuya Sakamoto, who worked two scoreless innings, was the winning pitcher.
Arihara, who gave up four runs on six hits over three innings, took the loss.
"Our pitchers did an incredible job," said Miura. "Everyone played a part in contributing when they were called upon."
RELATED:
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- Hotaka Yamakawa Propels the Hawks Past the BayStars in Game 2 of Japan Series
- Kohei Arihara Leads Hawks Past BayStars in Game 1 of the Japan Series
Author: Jim Armstrong
The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can find his articles on SportsLook.
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