Game 1 After a scoreless first inning, Yoshitomo Tani hit a home run off of Fighters' starter Masaru Takeda to put the Giants up 1–0 in the top of the second inning. During the bottom half of the inning, however, Terrmel Sledge tied the game after hitting a solo home run off of Giants' starter Dicky Gonzalez.
Hayato Sakamoto broke the tie in the fifth inning when he hit a double off the left field wall, scoring Tani and
Shinnosuke Abe, who singled to open the inning. The Giants responded when
Yoshinori Tateyama relieved Takeda to start the seventh inning. Tateyama gave up a single to Tani before being replaced by
Masanori Hayashi who immediately gave up a single to Abe. With runners at first and third,
Noriyoshi Omichi was brought in as a pinch hitter, and Fighters' manager
Masataka Nashida responded by bringing in
Shintaro Ejiri. After this pitching change, Giants' manager
Tatsunori Hara switched pinch hitters and sent
Lee Seung-Yeop to the plate instead of Omichi. Ejiri gave up an RBI single to Lee then retired the next two batters, finishing out the top half of the inning with the Giants leading 4–2. Ejiri continued to pitch through a scoreless eighth inning and was followed up by
Naoki Miyanishi, who kept the Giants hitless in the ninth. 43 days before his surprising Game 2 start. During the game, spectators noticed that Darvish had altered his pitching form—he shortened his stride to prevent aggravating his lower back injury. After the series, Darvish assessed his health and believed that he was "about 50 percent". The Giants started Tetsuya Utsumi, who had not pitched since a regular season game on October 12. In the first inning, Atsunori Inaba hit a solo home run off Giants' starter Wirfin Obispo. Eiichi Koyano put the Fighters up 2–0 with a solo home run of his own in the second. The home runs continued during the Giants' half of the inning when both Lee Seung-Yeop and Shinnosuke Abe hit solo shots off Fighters' starter Keisaku Itokazu. A Michihiro Ogasawara home run then gave the Giants a one-run lead in the bottom of the third. After a scoreless fourth inning, Kensuke Tanaka tied it up with the game's final home run in the fifth. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Itokazu walked
Hayato Sakamoto then gave up a single to
Tetsuya Matsumoto. Ogasawara brought in both runners when he doubled to left-center field, putting the Giants up 5-3.
Masanori Hayashi replaced Itokazu at the start of the sixth to retire three straight Giants batters. After relieving Obispo to start the seventh,
Daisuke Ochi pitched a scoreless half-inning. Brought in to pitch in the eighth inning,
Tetsuya Yamaguchi hit the first batter, Tanaka; two consecutive
errors then allowed Tanaka to score, cutting the Giants' lead to one. In the top of the second inning,
Yoshiyuki Kamei reached base with a one-out double off of Fighters' starter Masaru Takeda and advanced to third base on a
Yoshitomo Tani ground out. Kamei then scored when
Shinnosuke Abe doubled to deep center field, giving the Giants the lead. In the top of the sixth inning, Takeda gave up a two-out single to
Tetsuya Matsumoto. Fighters right fielder
Atsunori Inaba then fell down while attempting to field a ball hit by
Michihiro Ogasawara, resulting in the game's only
error. This error allowed Matsumoto to score from first base. Utsumi continued to pitch into the bottom of the inning until he was relieved by
Kiyoshi Toyoda. Utsumi's scoreless four and two-thirds innings (eventually resulting in a win) was seen as a redemption after his short Game 2 outing and four previous Japan Series losses. Takeda pitched a scoreless seventh inning, followed by Giants reliever
Tetsuya Yamaguchi who did the same in the bottom of the inning. Takeda pitched into the eighth inning until he was relieved by
Shintaro Ejiri, who closed out the top of the inning. In the bottom of the inning,
Daisuke Ochi surrendered a leadoff single followed by two strikeouts and a walk. Kroon was then brought in to face
pinch hitter Tomochika Tsuboi who grounded out to finish the eighth inning. After Fighters closer
Masanori Hayashi held the Giants to two runs in the final inning, Kroon gave up a leadoff double to
Tomohiro Nioka and allowed the pinch runner to reach third later in the inning. He then struck out Inaba and Takahashi to achieve the four-out
save and secure the series. Despite having runners on base every inning and leaving a total of 13 on base, the Giants completed a six-pitcher shutout. ==See also==