SAPPORO (AP) -- Trey Hillman's Nippon Ham Fighters are going back to the Japan Series.

Former New York Yankee Fernando Seguignol hit a three-run homer and Yu Darvish gave up just one run over 6-2/3 innings Thursday as the Fighters downed the Chiba Lotte Marines 6-2 to win the Pacific League championship series against Bobby Valentine's team.

Seguignol hit a two-out, 3-2 pitch off Lotte starter Yoshihisa Naruse in the bottom of the third inning at Sapporo Dome to give the defending Japan Series champion Fighters a 3-0 lead.

Seguignol, who hit 21 homers in the regular season, came into Thursday's game batting just .133 over the first four games of the series but came through when it mattered most for the Fighters, who won the best-of-five series three games to two.

"There's one thing we know about Seguignol," said Hillman. "He cares about the game as much as anyone and works as hard as anyone and made a huge impact for us today."

The Fighters, who finished first in the Pacific League this season, will face the winner of the Central League championship series between the Chunichi Dragons and the Yomiuri Giants in the Oct. 27-Nov. 4 Japan Series.

In Tokyo, Tyrone Woods hit a two-run homer and Motonobu Tanishige added a solo shot as the Dragons beat the Giants 5-2 in the opening game of the Central League series.

Thursday's game was a matchup between two of the best young pitchers in Japan this season and looked like it would be a pitcher's duel before Seguignol's homer.

Darvish, 21, was 15-5 with a 1.82 ERA and a league-leading 210 strikeouts for the Fighters while the 22-year-old Naruse went 16-1 with a league-best 1.82 ERA and 138 strikeouts.

Naruse had got the better of Darwish in their only regular-season matchup, but lasted only 3-2/3 innings Thursday.

Hiroyuki Kobayashi replaced Naruse, but didn't fare much better, loading the bases and giving up two more runs in the fifth to make it 6-0.

The Marines scored a run in the sixth on a Kazuya Fukuura sacrifice fly to right but that was all the scoring for Valentine's Marines, who won the Japan Series in 2005.

Darvish, who went the distance in Game 1, was taken out after getting two outs in the seventh. He was upset with Hillman's decision but the move paid off.

Ryan Glynn, who won Game 3, recorded the final out of the seventh and then retired the side in the eighth to preserve the five-run lead.

"I know he didn't want to come out but it was in our plans to play more games this season and he did an outstanding job," Hillman said of his starter, who was named series MVP.

Glynn recorded one out in the ninth and was replaced by closer Michael Nakamura, who gave up a run but recorded the final two outs.

It was another sweet victory for Hillman, who announced a month before the end of the regular season ended that he would not return to Japan next season.

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