Both of the starters in this one, Daisuke Miura for the home nine and Yuya Kubo for the visitors, were beaten to a pulp early and each was lucky to have not been hung with a loss. But Junichi Kawahara made his first appearance at the top level in almost a year for the Giants and was credited with his initial save of 2004. 

Yomiuri pulled to the head of the line in the first, as leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu belted one into the rightfield bleachers to make it 1-0. 

Kubo had fashioned a perfect first, but did not successfuly negotiate the second and his lead was soon a memory. First baseman Tyrone Woods walked. Centerfielder Katsuaki Furuki singled to right. Rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo singled to right, too and it was tied at 1-1. Third baseman Shuichi Murata singled to right just to be one of the boys and Furuki crossed. Catcher Ryoji Akikawa singled to right to load the bases. Miura struckout. Shortstop Takuro Ishii singled to center to plate Kinjo. Second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa grounded to short to invite Murata in. Leftfielder Takahiro Saeki singled to left and Aikawa crossed for a 5-1 advantage. That also knocked Kubo out of the ballgame in favor of Hiroshi Sato. 

Miura got his clock cleaned for nine runs in his last outing against the Giants and he didn't do much better here. In the third, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to right with one away and, one out later, Miura got two strikes on centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes but walked him. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to left to drive Nishi in. First baseman Roberto Petagine walked to juice the bags. Third baseman  Daisuke Motoki crashed a shot off the centerfield wall to clear the bases on the double and equalize it at 5-5.

Sato, though, allowed the Stars to grab another lead in the home ups. Furuki and Kinjo singled to right. One out later, Aikawa flied out to center and Furuki tagged up and hustled in to make it 6-5 Yokohama. 

Miura was back at the center of the diamond for the fourth and Yokohama ended up behind. He plunked catcher Shinnosuke Abe. Shortstop Mototsugu Kawanaka walked. They were sacrificed along. One out later, Shimizu singled to left to convert the baserunners and it was 7-5 Giants. It was also the veteran outfielder's 1000th lifetime hit. 

Matt Randell replaced Sato and wove four outstanding shutout innings on one hit, a walk and a hit batsman. He has become manager Tsuneo Horiuchi's only reliable reliever recently. 

The normally very hittable Denny Tomori also rendered the opposition runless. 

And so it remained unitl two outs in the ninth, when the Giants Brian Sikorsky walked Woods. Horiuchi went for the lefty-lefty matchup with Furuki at the plate and dialed for Okajima, who walked Furuki. Switch hitting Kinjo grounded to Kawanaka, who threw the ball past Petagine, both runners scoring on the error to knot it at 7-7. They intentionally walked power threat Murata and went after Aikawa, who slapped a comebacker to Okajima for the third out. 

Kato ascended the hill for his second inning of work in the tenth and Abe singled to center. Kawanaka attempted to sacrifice, but it was such a good bunt that he beat it out. The next two hitters whiffed. However, Kato left a slider where he shouldn't to Kiyohara and the PL Gakuen High product pasted it deep into the leftfield bleachers and the kyojin were in front 10-7. 

Kawahara retired three of the four men who stepped in against him in the bottom portion and it was over. Yomiuri was now back to .500 and they are 3-2 in extra inning games this year.

It was the first extra inning pinch hit homer of Kiyohara's career and his fifth dinger total in such situations lifetime. It was also his first game deciding extra inning clout since one he pounded into the seats for a grand slam in the 11th against Hiroshima at Tokyo Dome on July 14th, 2001. The last time Kiyohar ahd a "pinch homer," as they say in Japan, was last August 13th against Chunichi. 

Yomiuri has had at least one homer in each of its last 28 games since Opening Day, only seven off of Seibu's overall consecutive streak. 

Photo:  Kazuhiro Kiyohara Pinches Off a Winner

Kei Igawa started for Hanshin and just has not found a groove yet, as he was mugged for five runs, four earned, in three innings, his shortest outing of the season. 

Tigers centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi kicked off the game with a walk and shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to right. One out later, leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto singled to left to send Akahoshi in. Rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama singled to center and Fujimoto turned for home and a 2-0 lead.

The Carp charged back, though, in the bottom episode when Ogata singled to right, rightfielder Shigenobu Shima, who is cooloing off at the plate now, walked and second baseman Greg LaRocca grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Shortstop Andy Sheets launched an Igawa delivery into the rightfield seats to deadlock it at two all. 

They would then get the upper hand in the second on a double off the rightfield wall from first baseman Kenta Kurihara and a double to rightcenter by third baseman Kenjiro Nomura to make it 3-2 Carp. Catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara beat out a ground ball toward short, but Nomura held at second. They were sacrificed up 90 feet. Igawa nailed Shima with a pitch to load the bases. LaRocca, though, struckout and Igawa had snuck out of a big dilemma. 

Hanshin countered in the third when second baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to left with one out and Kanemoto doubled to rightcenter. Hiyama singled to right to push the tying run across. First baseman George Arias walked to jam the basepaths. Mike Kinkade can't shake his funk, however, grounding into an inning ending twin killing. 

Hiroshima surged out in front again in their at bat in the frame, as Sheets reached on an error by Fujimoto and, one out later, Kurihara singled to left. Nomura singled to right and the bases were packed. Ishihara walked to force Sheets in. Kuroda singled to center and Kurihara loped across to make it 5-3 Carp. Ogata grounded into a 5-2 force play and Shima flied out to prevent any further damage.

LaRocca compensated for sabotaging the rally in the second when he drilled a pitch from reliever Naohisa Sugiyama into the rightfield stands leading off the fourth. Sheets walked. Leftfielder Tomonori Maeda went yard to dead center and it was 8-3 Carp. 

Hanshin would trip over their own feet again in the sixth when Hiyama doubled to rightcenter. One out later, Kinkade walked. Catcher Akihiro Yano beat out a tapper toward third and the bases were loaded. But pinch hitter Osamu Hamanaka bounded into a 6-4-3 double play
and Kuroda still had his 8-3 lead.

In the seventh, Imaoka mashed a Kuroda offering into the centerfield seats with two outs to shrink the disparity to 8-4.

The next time up, they disposed of Kuroda. With one out, Arias singled to left. Kinkade lined out to third. Yano ripped a shot off of Kuroda for another infield hit. Kuroda got ahead of pinch hitter Kentaro Sekimoto 0-2 and then waited out a walk to load the bases. Akahoshi hit a little ground ball out toward short that Sheets couldn't do anything with other than to eat it and Arias scored. Fujimoto conked a forkball into left for two RBIs. Imaoka walked to reload the bases. Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara jogged in from the bullpen and promptly ricocheted a pitch off of Kanemoto to force Akahoshi in and even it at 8-8. But Hiyama fanned and so the standoff continued. 

Ando had a two on, two out jam in the bottom segment and struck Kurihara out to stymie the threat. He then got two quick outs in the ninth before Takahiro Arai singled to left. Ogata saw a fat 92mph heater crossing the plate and he punished it more than 420 feet away in left to put it in the books for the 10-8 triumph. It was Ogata's first homer in his last 81 at bats and his second bomb of the campaign. 

For Yakult starter Tony Mounce, his strong 6.1 innings of two run ball saved his job, which was hanging by a thread. He had more life on his fastball as well as more command of it than at any other time this season and got his breaking ball over, but manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu still thinks the former Ranger still needs to polish that yellow hammer a little more. So Swallows fans hope that this first win will become a spark for many more down the line. 

Yakult played small ball in the first to snare an early advantage, as centerfielder Mitsuru Manaka beat out a ground ball and went to second on a sacrifice. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura singled to center to redeem Manaka and make it 1-0.

Vargas struckout the side in the second then saw Mounce ignite a rally in the third with a leadoff double down the rightfield line. Two outs later, Iwamura singled to center, but Mounce wasn't going to challenge the rocket launcher on Ochoa's shoulder. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez singled to center for the RBI. First baseman Ken Suzuki, who has a .343 average on Children's Day during his career, bopped a 90mph fastball into the rightcenter alley and both Iwamura and Ramirez sprinted in and it was 4-0 Swallows.

Ochoa, though, took a Mounce curve ball on a tour of the leftcenterfield bleachers to make it 4-1 Swallows in the fourth

They chipped another run off the gap between the two sides in the fifth on a single to center by first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe, went to second on a one out ground ball and second baseman Masahiro Araki singled to center to bring Watanabe in. 

In the sixth, Ramirez carromed a shot off the leftfield wall, but was gunned down at second by Kazuki Inoue trying for second.  This was important because Suzuki walked and rightfielder Atsunori Inaba doubled down the leftfield line with two outs. But shortstop Yoshiyuki Noguchi flied out to right and a potential big inning went by the wayside. 

Mounce struck Inoue out to begin the seventh, but then catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to right. Wakamatsu chose to select righthander Ryota Igarashi from the bullpen and he blew Watanabe away. However, pinch hitter Masahiko Morino doubled to right and the tying run was now just 120 feet away. On the other hand, weak hitting shortstop Hirokazu Ibata was the next man up and Igarashi tempted him into grounding out. 

Igarashi spun a 1-2-3 eighth and Hirotoshi Ishii was bestowed with the save opportunity in the ninth. With one out, pinch hitter Takayuki Onishi boomed one over the leftfield fence to make it 4-3. The next two men grounded out and it was see you later.

Yakult remains in last place, butt thanks to the loss by Hanshin, they are only two games out of the top slot in the Central League. 

The Mariners continue to go south, losing to Minnesota 5-1 at (insurance company) Field, but rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki smacked a pair of safeties in four at bats for his fourth straight multi-hit tilt. Reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa tossed a scoreless ninth.

San Diego reliever Akinori Otsuka racked up his 13th consecutive scoreless appearance Wednesday. The erstwhile Buffalo and Dragon had just received word that the MLB commissioner's office had turned down the New York Mets' protest over his delivery and struckout two of the three men he saw in a perfect frame to defend a 1-0 lead in what ultimately became a 2-0 victory over Atlanta.

Yankees pitcher Donovan Osborne has been mentioned as a possible candidate to go to Japan recently, but for right now, he will replace Cuban righthander Jose Contreras, who has been sent down to A ball to get himself untracked. All of Contreras' problems, as ESPN
commentator Jeff Brantley has noted, seem to be between his ears. Is
he destined to be the Cuban Hideki Irabu? Stay tuned!

Chicago White Sox reliever Shingo Takatsu came in with the bases
loaded and two outs in the sixth inning against Baltimore Wednesday
and popped up Melvin Mora to stem the bleeding after the O's had scored the go ahead run off the the ex-Swallow's predecessor. He then got two more outs in the fullowing inning before being relieved. In the meantime, the Sox rallied to take the lead, providing Takatsu
with his second victory of the season. "There is a lot of luck involved

Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui went 1-5 with an RBI and two strikeouts Wednesday against San Francisco in an 8-2 triumph, the team's third straight win. His average is now .250. The Japanese press were also kind enough to note catcher Mike Piazza taking over the all time homer lead for catchers in the game. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi flied out in his one at bat in a 5-4 loss Wednesday. 

Now returning to Japan, Bobby Valentine's rehiring by Lotte and the move to Sapporo by Nippon Ham has paid off bigtime at the turnstyles, as overall attendance at NPB contest is up a smashing 16.8%. Lotte, while experiencing a tough time attempting to gain traction in the Pacific League pennant race, is averaging 20,000, a whopping 39.9%
improvement over the same time in 2003. 

The Fighters are up 38.8% since leaving Tokyo Dome. Even Orix, what with it's joke pitching staff but rugged offense, has seen 22% more people turning out at Kobe Green Stadium this season than in the previous one. 

The Central League saw a nice increase last season thanks to the re-energizing of Hanshin fans with the club's first pennant since 1985, so the increase this time around is smaller, about 7.9%, lead by Hanshin's 26.2% boost and Hiroshima's 18.5%. It should be noted, however, that Hanshin fans have flocked to Hiroshima Municipal Stadium for games with their heroes since tickets for Carp
"shiai" are much easier to obtain than those at Tigers home faceoffs.
They have also turned up at Meiji Jingu, too.