Tom Davey's fortunes, though, continue to migrate south, as he went five innings and was charged with four runs on 11 hits to fall 2-3 and inflate his ERA to 6.47.

After extricating himself from a two on, one out jam in the first, Davey allowed a single in the second before putting that frame to bed. But in the third, the Giants dented him for the game's first run when second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to center and was thrown out attempting to steal. Leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu sliced a single to left. Leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes singled to center. One out later, first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara, making his first start in four games, slapped a pitch down in the zone into left for an RBI single and a 1-0 lead. 

Davey subsequently found himself in a men on second and third ,  one out predicament in the fourth, but Nishi lined to Greg LaRocca at second, who threw to first to double shortstop Daisuke Motoki off . Davey then plunked Shimizu before inducing a groundout from Rhodes to survive the inning.

The Giants, though, kept plugging away and opened a bigger lead in the fifth. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to right. Two outs later, Motoki singled to center. Motosugu Kawanaka rammed a shot off of Larocca's glove and into right, allowing him to motor to second on the play for a double and a run to score. Note that LaRocca has only made two errors to date, so this was just one of those weird bounces of fate you see in baseball at times. But in an even stranger development. Kudoh, an awful hitter, connected for the first regular season extra base hit of his long career when he laced a double to leftcenter to drive in two and make it 4-0 Yomiuri. 

Carp centerfielder Koichi Ogata hammered a Kudoh pitch into the rightfield bleachers to break up the shutout in the bottom of the stanzam
but it was still Giants 4, Hiroshima 1.

Katsuhiro Nagakawa came on for the sixth for Hiroshima and Kiyohara singled near the line in left with two outs and catcher Shinnosuke Abe singled to right. Motoki also singled to right to chase Kiyohara in and it was 5-1 Giants.

Yomiuri would then extend its homer string to 29 games in the eighth, when Rhodes leadoff with long drive off of a slider that hit the top of the netting above the leftfield fence and dropped into the seats for a solo homer. Takahashi was next and unloaded into the rightcenterfield seats for back to back jacks and a 7-1 Giants advantage. It was Takahashi's first roundtripper in nine games. Kudoh and reliever Brian Sikorsky suffocated the Carp on one hit the rest of the way and that was your ballgame. It also put the Tokyo side back into the pennant race since five teams are now separated by half a game. 

Kudoh celebrated that 41st birthday Thursday. 

Kiyohara needs 12 more hits for 2000. 

Rhodes has reached 14 dingers quicker than in any previous season. One has to wonder how the Giants would handle a challenge to Sadaharu Oh's record. We'll have to keep an eye on that. 
 

Photo:  MLB Hitters May See This From Kimiyasu Kudoh in 2005

Shinobu Fukuhara, who has been Hanshin's most consistent starter so far, had an off evening, as he was tagged for all four runs in five innings to accept his first defeat of the year. 

The Dragons squandered a second inning opportunity when, after centerfielder Alex Ochoa had singled to right and Inoue singled to left, catcher Motonobu Tanishige grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and first baseman Masahiko Morino flew out to center.

Something similar afflicted Hanshin in the home portion, as first baseman George Arias singled to center and third baseman Mike Kinkade singled to left. However, catcher Akihiro Yano flew out and Fukuhara tapped a comebacker to Yamamoto, who turned the 1-6-3 twin killing. 

Chunichi broke the scorelessness in the third when Fukuhara walked Yamamoto, who went to second on a groundout. Shortstop Hirokazu Ibata singled to right. Tatsunami singled to right as well to bring Yamamoto home. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome walked to pack the sacks. One out later, Inoue singled to center on an 0-2 delivery to plate both Ibata and Tatsunami to make it 3-0. 

In the bottom of the inning, Hanshin centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi used his speed to generate his team's first run by laying down a bunt along the first base line. Morino got it and then threw it past second baseman Masahiro Araki, who went to cover first. Akahoshi sprinted all the way to third and then scored on a grounder to short by second baseman Makoto Imaoka and it was 3-1 Dragons. 

Chunichi attempted to get it back in the fourth when they had men on second and third with two outs, but Tatsunami popped out to extinguish that threat.

Morino would eventually compensate for his miscue in the sixth when he ignited a rally with a single to right and went to second on a sac bunt and then third on a groundout. Ibata walked. Tatsunami singled to left to cash Morino in and lend the Dragons a 4-1 edge.

Tigers leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto battled Yamamoto for eight pitches with two gone in the bottom of the inning and then drilled a 3-2
83mph fastball into the centerfield seats to make it 4-2 Chunichi. 

They pressed Yamamoto further in the seventh when Kinkade tripled to rightcenter with one out and Yano doubled off the rightfield wall
to put the score at 4-3. Chunichi manager Hiromitsu Ochiai dialed local for Eiji Ochiai (no relation) and he induced two groundouts to smother the Hanshin comeback attempt. 

In the ninth, Hanshin nearly knotted it, though. With Hitoki Iwase on the hill for Chunichi,  pinch hitter Hirohi Yagi, 1-47 against Iwase lifetime before the game, singled to center. However, he was erased on a double play ball off the bat of Arias. Kinkade singled to left for his first three hit game in Japan. Yano singled to center. Toshihiro Noguchi was sent up to pinch hit and struckout to end it. 

Tatsunami's first inning double on a 92mph fastball is his 418th, tying him for fifth all time with Shgeo Nagashima. He needs 32 more to pass all time leader and former Hankyu hall of fame centerfielder Yutaka Fukumoto. In addition, this was Tatsunami's 152nd three hits or more effort as a pro. 

Yamamoto is now 29th all time in strikeouts with 1735.

Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui had a single to center in four at bats Friday against Milwaukee in a 7-5 loss. He is now batting .239. The Mets' Mike Stanton attained a milestone with his 900th career appearance in that game. 

Padres reliever Akinori Otsuka came into Friday's game with Florida to defend a 1-0 lead, but his 13 consecutive appearances without allowing a run ended when he surrendered a single and a triple to make it 1-1. San Diego went on to lose 3-1. 

Former Lotte infielder Julio Franco became the oldest man ever in MLB annals to slug a pinch hit homer Thursday at 45 years old. Also, it was his first career pinch hit homer, the oldest any player has ever drilled his first pinch hit roundtripper. 

In a game highlighted by Edgar Martinez' 500th double and 299th homer, Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki went 2-4 with an RBI against the Yankees at (insurance company) Field Friday. He was also involved in a humorous moment in the game when  Ruben Sierra launched one to deep rightcenter. Both centerfielder Randy Winn 

Matsui was also involved in a controversial play at home plate when 
he appeared to beat a relay by an eyelash, resulting in Seattle skipper Bob Melvin getting in the umpire's face and inadvertantly spitting on him. Melvin wasn't tossed since the arbiter didn't notice the moisture on his uniform. 

Ichiro now has 700 knocks for his MLB career as he draws closer to 2000 total between his NPB days and his time with the Mariners. Suzuki is hitting .290. Matsui is at .313.

Seattle reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa tossed a scoreless inning on one hit in the above contest. 

Indians reliever Kazuhito Tadano was demoted to AAA Friday with the return of Jose Jimenez. Tadano permitted five runs in 4.2 innings for a 9.64 ERA. 

Nashua Pride pitcher Denny Harringer has signed to play in Taiwan.