Giants leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to right with one out in the first and stole second. One out later, rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled near the line in left and Shimizu set the controls for the heart of home plate to make it 1-0. 

However, with one gone in the home segment, a partially fooled Uchikawa hammered a breaking ball into the leftfield bleachers to knot it at one all. 

Yokohama then had a man on second with nobody out, but left him out ont he basepaths. So in the third, Shimizu homered to right for a 2-1 lead. Rhodes then belted a shot into the centerfield seats for his first roundtripper in five games and dedicated it to ex-teammate Takahisa Suzuki to make it 3-1. 

But Kisanuki wouldn't hold it. In the bottom of the inning, Uchikawa socked a hanging slider into the leftfield stands. One out later, first baseman Tyrone Woods doubled up the leftcenter alley. Leftfielder Takahiro Saeki singled to right. Woods was going to stop at third, but Takahashi didn't handle the ball cleanly and Woods alertly hustled to the plate to even it at 3-3. 

Yokohama then took over in the fourth. Hitoshi Taneda doubled off the leftfield wall and catcher Ryoji Aikawa doubled up the rightcenter gap to redeem Taneda on the triple. Matt Randel replaced Kisanuki. Walker smacked a single to right for an RBI. Shortstop Takuro Ishii lined out to second. Uchikawa got another slider and lined it into the leftfield bleachers to put the Stars in front 7-3. 

Walker, though, barely survived the fifth with the lead intact. Second baseman Toshihisa Nishi doubled into the leftfield corner and went to third on a groundout. Rhodes dialed long distance again, losing it in the rightcenterfield seats to make it 7-5 Stars. 

But Yokohama returned serve in their turn. Saeki singled to right. Two outs later, Aikawa, who hasn't been hitting lately, was intentionally walked to get to the pitcher's spot. However, Katsuaki Furuki was sent up to hit for Walker and reached on an infield hit that loaded the bases. Ishii singled to center and Saeki and Aikawa crossed for a 9-5 Stars advantage. 

Takeo Kawamura, who has been unhittable in middle relief this season, tossed two more scoreless innings, Eddie Gaillard retired the side in order in the eighth and Atsushi Kizuka put three of the four men he saw away in the ninth and that was how it ended. The Giants are now back at .500. 

Tomohiro Nioka was back at shortstop Tuesday for Yomiuri and went 2-3. 

Uchikawa is the first Yokohama player to homer in three consecutive at bats since Tomio Tashiro on May 18, 1980 against Yakult. He is the 11th Stars player overall to go yard thrice in a single match and it was the 15th time a Yokohama batter had pulled it off. Uchikawa had a neck nerve problem last season and it weakened his ability to throw the ball. So during the offseason, he worked on strengthening his neck muscles and even some dental surgery to fix his bite and it's paid off, as Uchikawa claims he now has better bat speed partially because of the work. 

Nevertheless, with this performamce, the Japanese press has dubbed him "agodzilla," a word they made up that combines the words "ago (jaw)" and, of course, Godzilla. Uchikawa is said to have a long Jay Leno-like lower part of the face.

Rhodes, on his heroics, "I was glad to hit a homer for Mr. Suzuki, but it was frustrating losing the game." Rhodes was nearly toosed in the first when the umpire wouldn't give him a time out when he tought Wlker was taking too long to deliver his next pitch, resulting in the slugger being rung up on called strike three. An irate Rhodes jawed with the arbiter before a coach dragged Rhodes back to the dugout.
 

Photo:  Tuffy Rhodes Drills His Second Homer In the Fifth Tuesday

Photo:  Domingo Guzman Coming at You Live

Photo:  Seiichi Uchikawa Gets Good Wood in the First Inning

Masanori Ishikawa started for the victors and was charged with five runs, but only two earned, in six innings to improve his record to 3-2 and top the Tigers for the first time in two years. 

Yakult let Kubota know rightaway that he was in for a rough evening, as centerfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to right and went to second on a sac bunt. Iwamura stepped in and got real gone to rightcenter for an instant 2-0 lead. 

The Tigers countered in the top of the second when rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama singled to left and first baseman George Arias brutalized a fastball on the outer half of the plate and scorched it to the opposite field and into the rightfield bleachers to knot it at 2-2. It was also his 150th lifetime homer in Japan, becoming the 135th player to that figure in Japanese annals and at 542 games, he is the ninth quickest ever to a century and a half. 

But Yakult brought some more pain to Kubota in the home half. With one away, second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi reached on an infield hit and went to second on a sac bunt by Ishikawa. Inaba walked. Shortstop Shinya Miyamooto, in his first game back since suffering a calf injury, lashed a shot off the leftfield wall that plated Dobashi. Iwamura then saw a hanging forkball and punished it into the centerfield seats
to tear it open to 6-2.

Again, though, Hanshin pressed the Swallows by responding. In the bottom of the frame, shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto's grounder was booted by first baseman Ken Suzuki. Centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi rammed one up the leftcenter gap and Fujimoto blazed home on the double. 
Akahoshi stole third. One out later, leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto walked. Hiyama grounded to second and Akahoshi crossed. Arias singled to right to chase Fujimoto in and put it at 6-5 Yakult.

In the fourth, Inaba conked a big fly to right to make it 7-5 Swallows.

As Ishikawa was obtaining a firmer handle on things, Kubota and reliever Hiroshi Santo were roughed up in the sixth. Rightfielder Billy Martin walked. Dobashi singled to center. Pinch hitter Noriyuki Shiroishi got aboard on an infield hit to pack the sacks. Santo was summoned from the bullpen. Inaba singled to right for two RBIs. The next two men struckout, but then Santo walked both leftfielder Alex Ramirez and Suzuki to force Shiroishi in. Rui Makino took the ball from Santo. Catcher Atsuya Furuta singled to left to hail Inaba and Ramirez in and Yakult had a 12-5 advantage. 

Hanshin,  though, would not run the white flag up. In the seventh, Fujimoto walked with one away and Akahoshi bunted for a basehit. Second baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to left to get Fujimoto in. Kanemoto was behind 0-2 before reliever Tatsuki Yamamoto threw an 85mph fastabll that Kanemoto king konged 455 feet away to dead center to put the Tigers within three at 12-9. Masaru Sato was substituted for Yamamoto and Hiyama  creamed an 84mph pitch into the rightfield bleachers to shrink the disparity to 12-10. That would be the final hit of the night for the Tigers order.

Miyamoto capped off the scoring in the eighth when he homered to right for the 13-10 final. 

Hanshin shot caller Akinobu Okada was angry at Kubota not only for being lit up, but he was going to be the first hitter of the seventh and Okada didn't want to use another pitcher before Kubota's spot came up. Okada ultimately had to use two hillsmen before the curtain was brought down on the stanza and then a third for the bottom of the seventh. 

Arias hurt his hamstring in the sixth while running out an infield hit and was removed from the game. Ikuro Katsuragi, normally an outfielder, was put at first and didn't fare well, looking like a fish out of water defensively. Certainly, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that maybe the better choice would be to use Hiyama, who has played there, at first and put Katsuragi in his natural rightfield. So why
Okada, a former infielder himself, didn't do that is a real headscratcher. 

Ken Takahashi started for the Carp and went eight innings, surrendering all four Dragons runs on nine hits to absorb the defeat.

Hiroshima grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the second, when centerfielder Koichi Ogata walked and rode home on third baseman Kenjiro Nomura's triple off the centerfield fence. But with the infield up, Guzman derved up three ground balls that Nomura couldn't get in on and os it remained.

Takahashi had a raft of baserunners on in the first three innings, but always managed to strand them. So Chunichi resorted to a little brute force in the fourth. Centerfielder Alex Ochoa commenced it with a jack into the leftfield seats. Leftfielder Kazuki Inoue singled to left. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige blasted a 2-2 86mph fastball into the centerfield bleachers for a 3-1 lead. It was also his 15oth career homer, becoming the seventh catcher all time to attain that figure. The irony? His 100th was also off of Takahashi (10/3/2001). 

Guzman was presented with men on second and third, one out predicament in the fifth, but slumping shortstop Andy Sheets grounded to third and leftfielder Tomonori Maeda struckout and that was that.

Okamoto ascended the hill for the seventh and Akihiro Higashide reached on an infield hit and went to second on a passed ball. One out later, second baseman Greg LaRocca singled to right for the second of his three hits and the RBI to make it 3-2 Dragons. One out later, Maeda got aboard on an infield hit.  Ogata walked to load the bases. However, Nomura struckout to let Okamoto off the hook.

The Dragons then went shopping for some insurance in the eighth, as shortstop Hirokazu Ibata doubled down the leftfield line and third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to right. Kosuke Fukudome flied out to right and Ibata tagged up and hustled in for a 4-2  advantage.

In the ninth, LaRocca lambasted a one out delivery from Ochiai into the leftfield bleachers to make it 4-3. Following another out, Maeda singled to left. However, Ogata grounded out to short to seal it for Chunichi. 

Shima had his first three hit game saince April 24th. 

Tatsunami had a third inning double to make it 421 for his career, putting him all alone in fourth place ahead of hall of famer Isao Harimoto all time. He needs two more to exceed Sadaharu Oh for third and set a new Central League mark. 

LaRocca, who has made only two errors, has an OPS of 1.071 (.404/667). He is on pace for about 41 homers, 102 RBIs and 87 extra base hits as well as more than 300 total bases. 
 

Photo:  Motonobu Tanishige Doing Some Lifting for Distance

"I wonder he would have said if I hadn't gotten a hit," said Matsui.

Higashio, the father of women's pro golfer Riko Higashio and mostly known among a lot of foreign pro yakyu fans for seemingly trying to destroy Daisuke Matsuzaka's career, wasn't the only Japanese celebrity at the park. Bucktoothed comedian Sanma Akashiya was there shooting a package for his tv show Sporto!

So Taguchi was inserted into that game for defensive purposes and 

Hideki Matsui faced the Angels Aaron Sele Tuesday in an extra inning 1-0 loss and ended up going 0-3 with a walk. He is zero for his last eight official at bats with a trio of bases on balls, lowering his average to .271. 

But the Mariners Ichiro Suzuki, even though his team lost to Baltimore, racked up his sixth straight multi-hit effort and needs just five more safeties for 2000. He had a pair of singles in four times up to lengthen his hit string to 16. 

Shigetoshi Hasegawa also got into that game in the ninth with a man already on and, hindered by an error behind him, was rocked for an RBI single and an RBI double that allowed the O's to tack on two more runs.