Kenichi Nakata pitched eight innings of one-run ball and the Chunichi Dragons took advantage of an anger-induced meltdown by Ryan Glynn en route to an 8-1 drubbing of the Nippon Ham Fighters to even the Japan Series at one game apiece on Sunday.
Lee Byung Kyu and Masahiko Morino both hit two-run homers for Chunichi, but the Nippon Ham bats never woke up from a comatose state, producing just four hits on the night at Sapporo Dome. The series moves to Nagoya from Tuesday night.
Nakata (1-0) allowed three hits with five strikeouts and one walk and a hit batsman in a 106-pitch outing. He won his third straight postseason start.
Morino put Chunichi on the board with a sacrifice fly in the first.
Glynn (0-1) came unglued in a paroxysm in the fourth, allowing three consecutive walks with one out, although he believed home plate umpire Hitoshi Watarida had failed to call strikes on some of his pitches.
Norihiro Nakamura then hit a double off the wall over the outstretched glove of right fielder Atsunori Inaba, driving in two runs and chasing Glynn from the mound.
Atsushi Fujii drew a two-out bases-loaded walk off lefty reliever Mitsuo Yoshikawa to make it 4-0.
Fernando Seguignol, who hit a three-run homer in Game 1 a day earlier, hit a solo shot with one out in the fourth to cut the lead to three runs, but Nippon Ham's offense was otherwise quiet.
Lee went deep to right in the sixth and Morino added to the onslaught with his drive in the seventh.
Chunichi cleanup hitter Tyrone Woods got his first hit of the series with a single in the seventh and went 1-for-4.
It is the first time in 14 years that the same teams are playing each other in the Japan Series in two consecutive years. The Seibu Lions and Yakult Swallows were the last teams to do so in 1992-1993. Chunichi last won the Japan Series in 1954 and has lost in all six appearances since then -- the last two in 2004 and 2006 with manager Hiromitsu Ochiai at the helm.
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