FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- SoftBank Hawks stalwart Yuki Yanagita did all the damage with his three-run, eighth-inning bomb in Thursday's 3-0 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters that brought his team within one win of back-to-back trips to the Japan Series.

After walking off with Wednesday's opening clash 2-1, the Hawks took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Pacific League Climax Series final stage, having earned an automatic one-game lead and hosting rights as PL pennant winners.

Both teams struggled to make an offensive impact in Game 2 at Mizuho PayPay Dome as SoftBank's veteran former major leaguer Kohei Arihara and young Nippon Ham right-hander Ren Fukushima went toe-to-toe in a pitcher's duel.

The 33-year-old Arihara exited after six shutout innings in which he allowed four hits and three walks while fanning two.

The 22-year-old Fukushima (0-1) was lights-out through seven innings, striking out 10, before running into trouble in the eighth.

After putting runners on first and second with one out, he was replaced by lefty Kenta Uehara, who sent down a 1-1 fastball to Yanagita that the 37-year-old outfielder lifted high over the wall behind left field.

"My adrenaline was pumping," Yanagita exclaimed in his postgame interview. "There was a chance there, so I had no choice but to hit it."

The Hawks, beaten by the Central League's DeNA BayStars in last year's Japan Series, will look to eliminate the Fighters in Game 3 on Friday.

At Koshien Stadium, runaway CL pennant winners the Hanshin Tigers took a 3-0 lead over the BayStars in their Climax Series final stage as they walked off with a 5-3 comeback win in Game 2 on Shota Morishita's two-run homer in the 10th inning.

Shugo Maki gave the BayStars a 3-2 lead with his fourth-inning solo home run, but the Tigers sent the game into extra innings after Teruaki Sato tied it with his RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

Baseball: Yanagita blasts Hawks past Fighters to brink of series win