Hiroki Kokubo's RBI single in the first inning and reliever Masahiko Morifuku's Herculean effort in the sixth helped the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks hold off the Chunichi Dragons for a 2-1 victory in Game 4 of the Japan Series on Wednesday at Nagoya Dome."This was a really tough game," Hawks manager Koji Akiyama said. "We had just enough to get by and hang on for the win."

Softbank's win evens the series at 2-2 and means the teams will play a sixth game on Saturday in Fukuoka. The silver lining for Chunichi is that the road team has wonevery game thus far."We lost again tonight, but the series is still tied at two games apiece," Dragons manager Hiromitsu Ochiai said. "We'll be OK and will try to get the last two wins needed for the championship.Hawks starter D.J. Houlton began the sixth with a 2-1 lead, but gave up a single to Masahiko Morino and a double to Tony Blanco before walking Kazuhiro Wada to load the bases with none out.

The left-handed Morifuku was brought in to pitch and Ochiai sent in righty Masaaki Koike to pinch hit for the left-handed hitting Kei Nomoto. The move put three consecutive right-handed hitters in Morifuku's path."I knew it was a tight jam, but I had the confidence I could get us out of it," Morifuku said. "I followed (catcher Toru) Hosokawa's lead and just threw the pitches he called. I felt a lot better after getting the first out on a strikeout."Morifuku responded to the challenge by striking out Koike. He gave up a flyball to shallow left against the next batter, Ryosuke Hirata, but Seiichi Uchikawa made the catch after a long run to hold the runners. Morifuku then retired Motonobu Tanishige to end the threat."I had a lot of confidence in Morifuku,that he could get us out of the bases-load, no-out situation," Akiyama said. "He was brilliant."The Hawks lefty remained in the game and threw a scoreless seventh.- http://www.japantimes.co.jp