Tom Davey started for Hiroshima and was charged with all four Giants tallies during his six inning stint to even his record at 2-2. 

Kudoh struckout the side in the first and tossed a perfect second, something that was rewarded by third baseman Hiroki Kokubo, who  had been out the last three games due to knee pain, mashing a Davey bottom of the frame fastball into the leftcenterfield bleachers to make it 1-0 Giants.

They then tore that wound open a little further in their next turn at bat when centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes singled back through the middle with one away, rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to left and, one out later, Kokubo lifted a 2-2 fastball on the outer half of the plate into the first row in the rightfield stands and it was 4-0. 

The fish responded in the top of the fourth with a belt into the rightcenterfield seats by leftfielder Tomonori Maeda to cut that deficit to 4-1. 

Hiroshima would then threaten in the fifth when rightfielder Shigenobu Shima singled to right with two gone and second baseman Greg LaRocca seared a double up the leftcenterfield alley. However, shortstop Andy Sheets' little fly ball over second was gathered in by Toshihisa Nishi and that opportunity went by the wayside. 

The score remained 4-1 until the eighth, when LaRocca singled to left, Sheets walked and both men advanced on a one out groundout. Third baseman Kenta Kurihara singled to center to redeem both baserunners to make it 4-3. Yomiuri manager Tsuneo Horiuchi dialed local for lefty Hideki Okajima, who induced a strikeout from catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara to maintain the lead. Okajima then retired the side in order in the ninth for the save and that was all she wrote. Yomiuri has now won three straight for the second time this season. 

The Kokubo roundtrippers made it 23 contest in a row where a Giants player has violated the friendly confines, tying a Central League record. 

Kudoh's front side was opening up too early in his last start and he was flattened, but he corrected that this time out and was nails until tiring in the eighth. 

Kokubo, on the advice of first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara, went and had 150 garlic juice injections from a Tokyo uh, practicioner to try to help his knee. The pasword is yabuisha (quack). 

As for the aforementioned Kiyohara, he made his first start in 16 days and took a collar.

Meanwhile, the Dragons offense couldn't do much with Bay Stars starter Takashi Saito, who cruised through his six inning assignment for
his second victory. 

Yokohama shortstop Takuro Ishii played first domino, singling to left to begin the game and get Kawasaki's downfall underway. Second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa walked. Leftfielder Takahiro Saeki singled to center to load the bases. First baseman Tyrone Woods singled to left to plate a pair. Ochiai gave Kawasaki the heave ho in favor of Shinichiro Koyama. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura walked to reload the bases. Rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo grounded to short and Woods crossed. Third baseman Hitoshi Taneda pinged one off the centerfield fence for two more and it was 5-0. 

Chunichi organized its most concerted attack in the home portion, but did not get what it should have out of it. Centerfielder Alex Ochoa walked. Leftfielder Kazuki Inoue singled to right. One out later, first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe singled to right to hail Ochoa in. Pinch hitter Takayuki Onishi singled to left to pack the sacks. But it ended there, as shortstop Hirokazu Ibata grounded into a 5-2 force play and second baseman Masahiro Araki struckout. 

Yokohama immediately returned the favor, though, in the third. Woods got aboard on an infield hit. Tamura singled to right. Kinjo rolled one toward short. Nobody could do anything with it and the basepaths were jammed. Taneda flied out to center and Woods tagged up and crossed to enlarge the Stars hegemony to 6-1.

In  the fourth, Saeki walked with one out and Woods put this one on ice when he drilled the daylights out of a hanging curve from Kazuhiro Hiramatsu into the seats in dead center and it was a laugher at 8-1. Tamura doubled into the rightfield corner. Kinjo doubled down the leftfield line to convert Tamura and put it at 9-1. 

The Dragons would nab their final tally in the sixth on a double off the leftfield wall by rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome and a two out single by catcher Motonobu Tanishige. They would crack a mere three hits the rest of the way and it was see you later. 

It was Woods' first three hit showing of the schedule to date and it raised his average to .359. He also walked to up his OBP to a mighty .462 to accompany a beefy .628 SLG. He is also in the midst of an 11 game hit streak. 

Chunichi third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami was hit on the arm by a pitch and was removed from the game. He isn't expected to miss much time, if at all. 

Dragons rookie Teppei Tsuchiya picked up a pinch hit single to right on an 0-2 pitch in the seventh for his first pro knock. In Japan, where the package often counts for a lot, he received not only the ball, but also a 10,000 yen bill (about $95) and the game score sheet. 

Yokohama is back in first place at the end of April for the first time in five years. Moreover, it is the first time that they finished last the previous season and then surged to the top in April of the following campaign since 1962. They would go on to finish second that year. 

Tony Mounce started for Yakult and when I saw his numbers for this game I thought he was headed for the minors for sure, especially since the Swallows are already looking for a replacement for him if they do decide to boot him, but pitching coach Akimitsu Itoh thought that 
Mounce was looking better than he had and he will make his next scheduled start. No doubt, though, that the former Ranger is facing the last roundup unless he can turn it around. 

Yakult dented Tigeres hillsman Shinobu Fukuhara in the first, as centerfielder Mitsuru Manaka walked and second baseman Noriyuki Shiroishi singled to right. Two outs later, first baseman Ken Suzuki walked to fill the bags. Catcher and ageless wonder Atsuya Furuta spanked a single to left to invite two home and it was 2-0 Swallows.

Mounce, though, would cough that lead up in the second on Kentaro Sekimoto's single to center, a wild pitch, a two out RBI single to left by catcher Akihiro Yano, an infield hit from Fukuhara, a ground ball to second by centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi that was misplayed by Shiroishi to allow Yano to cross, a walk to shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto and a two run single to center by Imaoka, slotted into the three hole in the order, that put Hanshin in front 4-2. 

In the third, Arias leaned on a fastball and deposited it in the leftfield bleachers to expand the lead to 5-2 Tigers.  Third baseman Mike Kinkade doubled to center and Yano walked. But Mounce struck Fukuhara out and lured the next two batters into groundouts to keep his side within three. 

Amid all the focus right now on Yomiuri catcher Shinnosuke Abe, Imaoka has unfairly gotten lost, as he connected for his tenth homer of the year in the fifth, this one to center, to make it 6-2 Hanshin. Imaoka should have been the MVP in 2003 and he is making a case again in 2004. 

Fukuhara didn't have his A game Friday and Yakult shook him down for a deuce in the sixth, as leftfielder Alex Ramirez singled to center with one out and, following a flyout, Furuta singled to left. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba socked a double up the rightcenter gap and even Furuta managed to hobble in on his dubious knees to make it 6-4. 

But in the home segment, Akahoshi singled to right, stole second, and sprinted home on a single to left by Imaoka for a 7-4 Tigers advantage. 

Yakult retorted in the seventh with a walk to pinch hitter Hajime Miki and a double off the l.eftfield wall by Manaka that allowed the speedy Miki to negotiate the path to the promised land and it was 7-5. 

Fujimoto saw that in the eighth by singling to right, going to second on a walk to Imaoka and scoring on a one out single to left by Sekimoto
to restore the three run gap. Jerrod Riggan put three of the four men he faced away in the ninth for his fourth save to seal it. 

Yakult has permitted 36 runs in the past three games. Yikes!

Outfielder Osamu Hamanaka experienced some shoulder discomfort, so he was scratched from the starting lineup. 

Note to Mariners announcer Rick Rizz: Dave Hansen played for Hanshin, not Yomiuri.