Adam Jones, right, of the Orix Buffaloes reacts after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the Japan Series against the Yakult Swallows at Tokyo Dome on Nov.... The Buffaloes' win at Tokyo Dome forced a Game 6 on Saturday when Orix skipper Satoshi Nakajima said he would start Japan's best pitcher this season, Sawamura Award winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto.... Former major leaguer Yoshihisa Hirano issued a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth but retired the next three batters

The Orix Buffaloes' Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitches during a Pacific League game against the Rakuten Eagles on Oct.... Yamamoto( 18-5) outpitched former New York Yankee Masahiro Tanaka( 4-9) to lift the Buffaloes above their pennant rivals Lotte Marines, who were clobbered 15-7 by the SoftBank Hawks but still have three games to play.... Orix's Yamamoto fanned seven and issued a walk in a 122-pitch effort at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, earning his 15th straight winning decision to set his new club

Yuhei Nakamura delivers a tie-breaking pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth inning for the Yakult Swallows in their 2-1 Central League win over the DeNA BayStars at Yokohama Stadium on Sept.... Cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami singled to open the Swallows' ninth off lefty Edwin Escobar( 3-4), who left with two on and one out.... Yamasaki entered and retired star slugger Tetsuto Yamada but allowed the tie-breaking run to score on Nakamura's single....

Masataka Yoshida puts a good swing on a ninth-inning pitch for a game-winning RBI double, that capped a three-run rally and lifted the Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes to a 4-3 Japan Series Game 1 win over the Central League champion Yakult Swallows at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Nov.... Yoshida, who had twice come close to driving in the game's first runs, made good with his third chance seconds after Yuma Mune tied it with a two-run single at Kyocera Dome Osaka off McGough( 0-1).... For five