2012 JAPAN SERIES: Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters vs Yomiuri Giants


Champion: Yomiuri Giants
4 games to 6
Most Valuable Player:Tetsuya Utsumi

November 3 at Tokyo Dome (audience 45,018)
Shinnosuke Abe was back playing, supporting Giants starter Hirokazu Sawamura. In the first inning Kenji Yano hit in 2 runs. In the 2nd, Hisayoshi Chono homered. Then in the 6th inning, the Fighters Shot Nakata slammed a 3 run homer to equalize. In the 7th, Abe hit in a run to help his team take the lead. And the Giants kept the lead to clinch the game and the Japan Series for the 22nd time. Manager Tatsunori Hara went up in the air 11 times.

November 1 at Sapporo Dome (audience 40,579)
The starters of the first game started in this game. The Giants John Bowker slammed a 2 run home run off Mitsuo Yoshikawa in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd inning Hayato Sakamoto hit in a run. What's considered a misjudgement occurred in the 4th inning. The Fighters Kazuhito Tadano's pitch to Ken Kato which appeared to have hit him, did not. But the umpire called it a dangerous pitch, forcing Tadano out of the game. In the 5th inning, Kato hit in 2 runs. In the 8th super rookie Yuki Saito pitched but gave up 2 runs. In the end the Giants won 10 to 2.

October 31 at Sapporo Dome (audience 40,433)
The Giants fought without Shinnosuke Abe who's injured his right knee in the previous game. It turned out to be a tense bame. The Giants starter Ryosuke Miyaguni who's been pro for 2 years hurled a shut out 7 innings. The Giants had a chance in the 9th inning with bases full. But could not hit a runner home. Then in the 12th inning, closer Kentaro Nishimura picked up a grounded ball and threw to first which was covered by Daisuke Fujimura. But Fujimura dropped the ball. After that the Fighters Yumi Iiyama hit in a run to end the game 1 to 0.

October 30 at Sapporo Dome (audience 36,942)
The Giants D.J.Houlton gave up a homer to Atsunori Inaba in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, Inaba doubled. Eiichi Koyano singled, batting in more runs. In the 5th inning, the Giants Hayato Sakamoto hit in a run. But the Fighters expanded its lead, ending the game 7 to 3.

October 28 at Tokyo Dome (audience 44,932)
Fighters starter Masaru Takeda gave up a homer to the first one at bat, that's Hisayoshi Chono. The Giants starter Horikazu Sawamura hit Sho Nakata, forcing the slugger out. Otherwise, he pitched well until the 8th inning. The Fighters had 2 runners on base in the 9th inning, but Tomohiro Nioka popped up the ball, and ended the game 1 to 0 for the Giants.

October 27 at Tokyo Dome (audience 44,981)
Starting for the Giants, Tetsuya Utsumi. For the Fighters Mitsuo Yoshikawa. In the 4th inning, Hayato Sakamoto doubled. Then came home on Shinnosuke Abe's hit. In the same inning, John Bowker slammed a 3 run home run. In the 5th inning, Abe hit in a run again. Then he came home on Yoshinobu Takahashi's base hit. Bowker hit in 2 more runs. In the 9th inning, Yoh Daikan hit off a home run from Dicky Gonzalez. The Giants won 8 to 1.



Go to BASEBALL ARCHIVE INDEX