Kei Igawa, though, was hurt by an error that lead to three unearned tallies in his 7.1 innings, as he was ultimately burned for six runs on seven hits to absorb blame for the defeat. 

Kudoh struckout the side in the third and Igawa, after being tagged for a pair of hits, did the same in the fourth. But in the fifth, Hanshin broke the scoreless duel when first baseman Hiroshi Yagi singled to left and third baseman Kentaro Sekimoto walked. Catcher Akihiro Yano doubled up the rightcenter alley and both runners sprinted around to the plate to make it 2-0.

But the Giants flipped that around in the sixth, as Igawa walked Kudoh, a horrendous hitter, to begin the frame and, one out later, leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu's ground ball to Sekimoto was dropped in attempting to start a double play. Centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes wacked a slider into left for an RBI single, Shimizu motoring to third when leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto didn't handle the ball cleanly. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi flied out to left and Shimizu tagged up and hustled home. First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara clocked a changeup up through the middle and Rhodes scampered across on the single for a 3-2 Yomiuri lead. 

Kudoh struckout the side again in the seventh. He was then given more run support in the eighth when second baseman Toshihisa Nishi walked and was subsequently erased on a ground ball to third by Shimizu. Rhodes belted an Igawa delivery into the centerfield bleachers for a two run homer. Takahashi doubled into the leftfield corner. Masashi Sajikihara replaced Igawa. Kiyohara walked. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo bounced into a 5-4 force. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe singled to right to drive Takahashi in. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kudoh slapped a ball into right for two RBIs. Nishi singled to left to repack the sacks. Masahiro Sakumoto jogged in from the bullpen. Shimizu singled to right to plate Kokubo and it was 9-2 Giants. Sakumoto then struck Rhodes out to end the inning. 

Kudoh tossed a perfect eighth and looked to close it out in the ninth. However, the Tigers didn't send him off peacefully. Kanemoto singled to center and rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama singled to left. One out later, Sekimoto singled to right to hail Kanemoto in, Hiyama making for third. Backup catcher Toshihiro Noguchi flied out to right and Hiyama tagged up and crossed to cut the deficit to 9-4. Kudoh struck Yoshinori Okihara struckout and that was the ballgame. Yomiuri is now within one half of a game of the top stop in the Central League. 

Kudoh is only the third man in Japanese annals to fashion a complete game at age 41. The others are hall of famer Tadashi Wakabayashi and the great Hiroshima hurler Yutaka Ono. It was also is first ever instance of going all the way victoriously against the Osaka nine. 

Sankei Sports columnist and former Yakult first baseman Takehiko Kobayakawa says that Igawa's arm speed is down and it is causing his pitches to spin back over the plate. It also doesn't help that the Tigers have made a league worst 24 errors. 

And if that weren't enough bad news, Yano was injured by a foul tip off of an elbow in the eighth. So the team will likely send rookie infielder Takashi Toritani down to the farm and recall a catcher just in case Yano's wing worsens. 

With this game, Hanshin has also attained one million in attendance the fastest in its history. 

Dragons second baseman Masahiro Araki leadoff the game with a double off the leftfield fence and went to third on a sac bunt. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami then tied Sadaharu Oh on the all time doubles list by torching a sixth pitch forkball for into the rightfield corner for a 1-0 lead.

However, Yokohama got a one out single to left from second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa in the bottom of the inning and then first baseman Tyrone Woods creamed one into the rightfield bleachers to lend the Stars a 2-1 edge.

Miura created some trouble for himself in the third when Araki singled to center and stole second. One out later, Tatsunami and rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome walked to load the bases. But Miura buckled down and struck centerfielder Alex Ochoa out and leftfielder Kazuki Inoue lined out to first to abate the threat. 

Araki, though, doubled to leftcventer kicking off the fifth and, one out later, Tatsunami singled to right to cash Araki in and knot it at two all. 

There was little movement by either side until the eighth, when Fukudome walked and Ochoa drilled a double down the rightfield line, Fukudome putting it in fourth for the plate. Inoue grounded to second to move Ochoa over. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige walked. Masahiko Morino, pinch hitting for first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe, jacked one beyond the centerfield wall to pump the Dragons advantage up to 6-2. 

Shinya Okamoto came on for Chunichi to pitch the ninth and leftfielder Takahiro Saeki doubled to left with one away and, one out later, Hitoshi Taneda singled to right to convert Saeki. Okamoto then struckout catcher Ryoji Aikawa to turn out the lights. 

Tatsunami now has 422 doubles, which is also the Central League career record. 

Yokohama has lost seven straight over the last three years against Kawakami, four of those just this season. 

Araki had two steals to pass Hanshin centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi for the league lead and enlarge his total to ten. He was also thrown out attempting to thieve second in the eighth. His 4-4 evening raised his average to .266. 

Kawakami is tied for number one in the CL in wins with six and is one of the top guys in ERA at 2.49. 

Yakult starter Ryo Kawashima was throttled for seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in seven innings, as manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu arguably went too far with him, while Hiroshima moundsman Tom Davey was touched for six runs, four earned, on seven hits, two of them homers, in six innings. Neither man figured in  the decision. 

Hiroshima floored Kawashima in the first, as rightfielder Shigenobu Shima reached on a dropped fly ball by second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi with one out and second baseman Greg LaRocca singled to center. Shortstop Andy Sheets walked to juice the bags. Leftfielder Tomonori Maeda hammered a shot into the rightfield seats and it was 4-0 Carp. 

The Swallows halved that in the top of the second when first baseman Ken Suzuki singled to center and catcher Atsuya Furuta mortared an 87mph fastball into the leftfield stands to make it 4-2 Hiroshima.

Kawashima wriggled out of a two on, one out fix and then a two out, bases loaded situation in the second and the rookie's tenacity would be rewarded in the third. Kawashima singled to left and, one out later, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto brought major pain to a Davey delivery and parked it  in the rightfield seats to gridlock it at 4-4. This is at least the little shortstop's second opposite field dinger of the year. Where is he getting the power, even if both have been at bandboxes?

The Swallows had a man on second with nobody out in the fifth and couldn't get him home thanks to two strikeouts and a little popup to Davey. Then Hiroshima had two on and two out in the home segment, but Takahiro Arai grounded out. 

Yakult then surged in the sixth for their first lead of the match. Davey issued a one out walk to Suzuki. Furuta singled to left. Rightfielder Billy Martin walked to jam the basepaths. Dobashi flew out to Shima and Suzuki tagged up and crossed while Furuta moved up to third on the throw home. Davey unleashed a wild pitch and Furuta toed the dish to put it at Swallows 6, Carp 4. Kawashima was then allowed to hit instead of being pinch hit for and grounded out. 

Maybe it was an indcation of Wakamatsu's lack of confidence in his middle relief, but whatever the case, Hiroshima would give Kawashima a good kicking in the home portion to retake the lead. With one out, catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara doubled down the leftfield line and pinch hitter Itsuki Asai singled to left to redeem him. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata mashed a Kawashima offering into the leftfield seats and it was 7-6 Carp. 

Hiroshima could really have made a mess of things if they had been able to get a big hit or two with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh, but a flyout and a groundout killed that opportunity off. 

Furuta then restored equilibrium in the top of the eighth when he cranked an 89mph fastball from reliever Kan Otake over the rightfield fence to make it 7-7. 

Miyamoto, though, nearly became the goat in the bottom of the inning when he booted a ground ball from Ogata and advanced on a sac bunt. 
One out later, Sheets singled to left for the RBI and an 8-7 Carp lead. 

Yet, the Carp faithful would go home disappointed. Dobashi singled to right off of Shinji Sasaoka to inaugurate the ninth and went to second on a sacrifice. Inaba was next and conked it into the rightfield seats to make it 9-8 Swallows. 

Igarashi struckout the first two Hiroshima batsmen he encountered in the Carp's turn and then walked third baseman Kenjiro Nomura, who was pinch run for by Okagami. But Kazuyoshi Kimura, pnch hitting for Ishihara, grounded to first and this baby was a memory. 

Furuta is five away from 200 career homers. He also needs 121 hits for 2000. By cracking three hits, he raised his average to .352. 

Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki registered his 2000th pro hit Friday in the fifth inning against Detroit at (insurance company) Field, a single back through the middle on a pitch down and middle-out from Tigers starter Nate Robertson, who lefthanders had hit just .083 (3-36) against this season to date. The fans in the stands gave the former Orix infielder a standing ovation and he tipped his cap to them to acknowledge the applause. 

Ichiro is the fastest Japanese ever to 2000 at 1465 games while Japan's "God of Hitting," former Yomirui Giants first baseman Tetsuharu Kawakami, did it in 1646. Moreover, at 30, he is tied for second youngest all time in MLB to that mark with Mel Ott, Hank Aaron, Robin Yount, Rogers Hornsby and Ducky Medwick, all guys who have plaques at Cooperstown. The youngest to 2000 was Ty 
Cobb, who was 29 when he accomplished it. 

As an aside, only Japanese player ever made it to 3000 (thanks to the shorter seasons), Isao Harimoto. See the Data Warehouse for his stats and bio. 

He finished the game 3-5 for his eighth mulit-hit game out of his last nine and he has had at least one hit in 18 of his last 19. He is on pace for 244 hits, which would easily make him the first man in MLB history with 200 safeties in each of his first four big league campaigns. 

By the way, he did tell Chunichi Sports that the two pitches from Baltimore reliever John Parrish up near his head Thursday angered him and he did try to take him out of the park as a result. "You gotta do that sometimes," said the all star outfielder. 

Cleveland farmhand Kazuhito Tadano made a minor league start Thursday and went five shutout innings on four hits. 

Also Thursday, Angels minor league pitcher Yoshitaka Mizuo went a scoreless inning for Salt Lake City.

San Diego reliever Akinori Otsuka was uncharacteristically wild Friday against Philadelphia in the bottom of the eighth and was named
the loser after giving up two runs in a 5-4 defeat. The go ahead run for the Phils came on a hot shot off the glove of San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene, who made a diving attempt to flag it down. It is Otsuka's second kuroboshi against three wins and the first runs he has been charged with in his last six appearances. 

Kazuhisa Ishii will start in Hideo Nomo's place for the Dodgers against Milwaukee on the 25th, according to Hochi Sports. 

The Baseball World Cup could be delayed until 2009 if MLB and the various other countries and governing organizations can't get all the arrangements in place for one they hope to hold in March, 2005, according to press reports. Stupid, stupid, stupid. In any event, when they do eventually launch the thing, it will occur every four years. 

Chicago White Sox reliever Shingo Takatsu limited the Minnesota Twins to one hit over two innings Friday in an 8-2 Sox win. He has been personally unscored upon in his last 11 outings. 

Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui went 2-5 against Texas in a 9-7 loss. However, he was 0-3 with runners in scoring position in that game.