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.

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.

[10] During the game, spectators noticed that Darvish had altered his pitching form—he shortened his stride to prevent aggravating his lower back injury.

With two outs, Alex Ramírez singled before Yoshiyuki Kamei hit a home run off the left field foul pole.

Closer Hisashi Takeda then earned a save after completing a scoreless ninth to secure the win for the Fighters 4–2.

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.

[4] Both teams' combined six home runs narrowly missed tying the Japan Series record of seven achieved by the Giants and Kintetsu Buffaloes during 1989's Game 7.

[4] Fighters pitcher Kazumasa Kikuchi, who had pitched a scoreless seventh inning, was relieved by Shintaro Ejiri in the eighth after putting two batters on base.

Abe gave the Giants two insurance runs when he drove home both of Ejiri's inherited runners with a two-out single.

However, after facing four batters, Tono was forced to leave the game in the first inning after a hit by Shinji Takahashi struck him on his right wrist.

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.

[7] 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.

Kroon was then brought in to face pinch hitter Tomochika Tsuboi who grounded out to finish the eighth inning.