Masafumi Hirai started for Chunichi and just about everything he threw was hit hard by somebody, as he couldn't get anyone out in the fourth and ultimately surrendered six runs on nine hits to swell his ERA TO 6.29. 

Dragons second baseman Masahiro Araki walked to commence the contest and it was on for the Chunichi offense. After Araki was sacrificed to second, third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami ripped a slider for a double to rightcenter to plate him. It also put the veteran infielder all alone ahead of Shigeo Nagashima in the fifth slot all time for two baggers. One out later, centerfielder Alex Ochoa singled to left to push Tatsunami across and it was 2-0.

Hanshin halved that in their turn when centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to left, shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to right and Imaoka singled to left for the RBI to make it 2-1. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto flew out to center. Rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama walked to load the bases. First baseman George Arias, who already has two grand slams, stepped in, but this time he grounded into double play and so the Dragons maintained their one run edge. 

The visitors built on that advantage in the second, when Takayuki Onishi singled to center and, one out later, Shimoyanagi walked Hirai. One out later, shortstop Hirokazu Ibata walked to pack the sacks. Rookie pinch hitter Tadaatsu Nakazawa singled to right for his first two pro RBIs. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to center to usher Ibata in to go up 5-1. Rui Makino then entered from the bullpen and retired Ochoa on a foul pop fly to finally end the rally.

Hanshin catcher Akihiro Yano, who had worked the last couple of days on staying back on the ball, mashed a Hirai offering into the leftcenterfield bleachers in the bottom version and it was 5-2 Chunichi.

After a respite, the Tigers worked Hirai over in the fourth. Arias singled to left. Third baseman Mike Kinkade singled to right. Yano laced a double to rightcenter to cash Arias in. Seldom used Ikuro Katsuragi chipped in with a pinch hit RBI  single to center. Akahoshi moved Katsuragi over with a groundout to second, though Yano held at third. Shigeki Noguchi took the ball from Hirai. Fujimoto was jammed slightly on a slider, but still squirted it down the line in right to convert both Yano and Katsuragi  and lend the Tigers a 6-5 edge. Imaoka
got an 86mph fastball and powdered it over the centerfield wall to make it 8-5. One out later, Hiyama lined a double to leftcenter. Arias then socked a Noguchi delivery into the leftfield bleachers and a shellshocked Chunichi outfit found itself at a 10-5 disadvantage. 

Rookie Hanshin reliever Hirotaka Egusa came on and was in a two on, one out predicament in the fifth before a twin killing off the bat of Onishi allowed him to wriggle out of it. 

Imaoka would soon put this one in the refrigerator against reliever Akira Miyakoshi. In the home ups, Yano singled to left and, two outs later, Fujimoto walked. Imaoka mortared one into the leftcenterfield stands and it was all but over at 13-5.

A double play ball enabled Tigers reliever Ramon Morel to escape a one out, bases loaded dilemma in the sixth and that was the last anyone was to hear of the Dragons offense the rest of the evening. 

Imaoka continued to make trouble, however, as he walked to open the eighth and, one out later, Kentaro Sekimoto also accepted a freebie. The runners advanced on a passed ball by catcher Yuichi Yanagisawa. One out later, Kinkade outran a ground ball toward third and Imaoka hustled in. Yano singled to right. Reserve Yoshinori Okihara, just called up from the bushes, singled to left to dispatch Sekimoto to the dish for a 16-5 final. 

Imaoka has already matched last year's output of 12 roundtrippers. 

Since Noguchi wasn't scheduled to start in this series, manager Hiromitsu Ochiai made him available for relief. 
 

Photo: Akihiro Yano Has Ideal Head Position as He Blasts a Homer

Yuya Kubo, starting on three days rest after being slaughtered in his last appearance, was tenacious even if not as sharp as Bale, as he was charged with two runs on nine hits and walked three in defeat. 

Yomiuri grabbed a the first lead of the ballgame and extended its homer streak, too, when second baseman Toshihisa Nishi ratcheted his 100th career homer into the leftfield bleachers to inaugurate the match and hand the Giants a 1-0 advantage.

Bale then surrendered a leadoff double in the third and saw the runner advanced on a sacrifice, but he stepped up and induced a pair of groundouts to bring the scoring chance to a close. 

In the fourth, The Carp fought back to tie it, as shortstop Andy Sheets singled to left and, one out later, first baseman Kenta Kurihara singled to right. Third baseman Kenjiro Nomura hit a sinker down and away off the end of his bat and dropped it into left to hail Sheets in and deadlock it at 1-1. 

An inning later, the Carp surged ahead to stay when centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to right and rightfielder Shigenobu Shima doubled to rightcenter. One out later, leftfielder Tomonori Maeda clocked a forkball down in the zone into right and Ogata crossed, but Shima was cut down at the plate by Yoshinobu Takahashi to end the frame with Hiroshima in front 2-1. 

Bale struckout the side in the sixth, but a one out single to left by third baseman Hiroki Kokubo and Bale's plunking catcher Shinnosuke Abe put the tying run in scoring position. Fortunately, shortstop Daisuke Motoki lined to Kurihara, who doubled Abe off, to extinguish the difficulty.

In the seventh, Bale singled to left and, one out later, Shima doubled down the rightfield  line. Second baseman Greg LaRocca was intentionally walked. Sheets now had a golden opportunity to break this baby open, but he grounded into a 5-2 force. Maeda hit a little humpback liner back through the middle that Kubo picked off and the potential big inning went by the wayside. 

When Bale walked the leadoff man in the ninth, manager Koji Yamamoto brought in veteran Shinji Sasaoka, who struckout the dangerous Kokubo and got Abe to ground into a game ending double play to save it. 

Abe's streak of homering at least once in six consecutive series is now a memory. 

Bale has pitched on each of the last three mother's days, though this is reportedly the first time that he emerged with a shiroboshi on such occasions. 

Yuya Kamada started for Yakult and had another disappointing performance, going six innings and giving up four runs on nine hits.

Yokohama starter Scott Mullen was even worse, as he was rocked for six runs on ten hits in six innings. He didn't figure in the decision, but reliever Eddie Gaillard did, as he evened his record to 2-2 despite permitting the tying run to score. 

The Swallows had two on and two out in the first for the game's first threat and with Ken Suzuki, .954 OPS and all, digging in. However, he grounded to short to put the kabosh on it.

Yokohama first baseman Tyrone Woods returned the favor by leading off the second with a double to rightcenter, but two ground balls to third and a grounder to second left him to die out there. 

The Stars would strike for a pair to break the scoreless duel in the third, as shortstop Takuro Ishii singled to right with two gone and so did second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa. The runners moved up on a wild pitch. Centerfielder Katsuaki Furuki, who has an OPS over 1.000 so far while subbing for injured Hitoshi Tamura, singled to right as well on a slider for two RBIs and a 2-0 lead.

Mullen, thought, after a solid four innings, was wasted by the Yakult order in the fifth. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba doubled off the centerfield fence and went to third on a groundout. One out later, centerfielder Ryuji Miyade tripled off the rightfield wall. Second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi walked. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura tomahawked a fastball up and in into the leftcenterfield seats to put the Swallows on top 4-2.

That would last all of about ten minutes, though. In the sixth, Furuki reached on an infield hit and, one out later, leftfielder Takahiro Saeki plundered one into the rightfield stands to knot it at four all. 

Yakult recovered by Furuta singling to center and going to second on a sacrifice and then watched shortstop Yoshiyuki Noguchi, who had his parents in the stands, go yard to right for a 6-4 Swallows lead. 

But then it seesawed Yokohama's way in the seventh, as leftfielder Takanori Suzuki doubled to rightcenter off of reliever Yu Sugimoto and went to third on a groundout. Uchikawa lifted a sac fly to right and Suzuki was across. Furuki singled to center. Woods clobbered a hanging shuuto beyond the wall in rightcenter to make it 7-6. 

Howdver, in the eighth, Noguchi walked with two outs and stole second off of Gaillard. Mitsuru Manaka, pinch hitting for reliever Futoshi Yamabe, wacked a changeup into center and it was even at 7-7. 

Fortunes shifted once more in the ninth, though, when Uchikawa singled to center with one away, Kazunori Tanaka walked and, one otu later, so did Saeki to jam the basepaths. That set the stage for the strikeout-wild pitch (called a "furinige" in Japanese) and Uchikawa
ran the lead run in. 

Kazuhiro Sasaki exited the bullpen gate and headed for the mound. Miyade singled to left and was sacrificed to second. Iwamura gtrounded to second and Miyade was now 90 feet away from home. But leftfielder Alex Ramirez popped out to third to spell doom for the Swallows comeback endeavor to secure the 8-7 triumph for the Stars. It also terminated Yakult's four game win streak.

Gaillard's numbers are uglier than a contestant on The Swan, as he has been victimized by 13 hits and two homers in ten innings, walking five and hitting two while permitting ten runs, all earned, for a 9.00 ERA. He only has three strikeouts. Manager Daisuke Yamashita has seen his youngsters respond well to all the playing tinme they are recieving this year. So one wonders how  long it will be before he goes to the farm looking to improve his middle relief situation and demotes Gaillard. It is still ealry, though, and Eddie could find a groove, but time is running out for him to be sure. 

Over in Seattle, the hapless Mariners blew a 6-0 lead and lost it 7-6 

Hideki Matsui had a single and a sac fly in four plate appearances, that RBI proving to be the margin of victory.