Chusei Mannami Powers Fighters Past Lions Into NPB Final Stage

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters beat the Saitama Seibu Lions 4-1 at Belluna Dome on Monday, October 12, completing a two-game comeback to win the Pacific League Climax Series First Stage and advance to face the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Chusei Mannami supplied the defining swing with a solo home run in the fourth inning, while Hiromi Ito limited Seibu to one run over five innings. The Fighters followed Saturday’s walk-off loss with consecutive wins, taking Game 2 by a 1-0 score in 11 innings before controlling the decisive third game.

Fighters build the lead inning by inning

Nippon-Ham moved ahead in the second after Ariel Gunji and Franmil Reyes opened the inning with consecutive singles. Yuki Nomura then lined an RBI single to left for the game’s first run.

Mannami drove a fourth-inning pitch from Seibu starter Natsuki Takeuchi over the left-field wall for his first home run of the postseason, doubling the advantage. The Fighters made it 3-0 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Takuya Narama and added their fourth run in the seventh, when Seibu reliever Hibiki Shinohara threw a wild pitch with a runner at third.

Seibu’s only response came in the bottom of the fifth. Tyler Nevin and Shinya Hasegawa opened the inning with consecutive singles before Sosuke Genda lifted a sacrifice fly, but Ito prevented the rally from becoming a larger inning.

Ito and the bullpen close the door

Ito earned the win after allowing three hits and one earned run across five innings. He struck out five and walked one, giving Nippon-Ham a steady start one day after the club survived an 11-inning pitchers’ duel.

Shimamoto, Tamai, Sun and Yanagawa protected the lead, combining to hold Seibu scoreless over the final four innings. Yanagawa worked the ninth for his second save of the series.

The Lions finished with five hits. Takeuchi took the loss after giving up three runs on six hits over five innings, while Mannami’s homer was the only extra-base hit he allowed.

Nippon-Ham advances to face SoftBank

The Fighters will now travel to Mizuho PayPay Dome for the Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage, which begins Wednesday, October 14. SoftBank enters as the Pacific League champion and, under the competition format announced for 2026, holds a two-win advantage because of the regular-season gap.

That leaves Nippon-Ham with an unusually steep path to the Japan Series, but the Fighters arrive in Fukuoka after responding to elimination pressure with two disciplined, low-scoring wins in Seibu.