The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks received their toughest test of the year in the Japan Series — and, as usual, passed with flying colors.
The Hawks rallied from two runs down to beat the Yokohama DeNA BayStars 4-2 in Game 4 on Wednesday night to complete a four-game sweep and secure their second straight title in front of their fans at Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka.
Yudai Yamamoto, who began his career with the BayStars in 2018 and was traded to the Hawks in May, tied the game with a two-run triple in the fourth inning, and Yuki Yanagita followed with a tiebreaking RBI single to give SoftBank a lead it would not relinquish. Yamamoto tacked on an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
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