Koji Uehara started for the kyojin and went six strong innings of two run (one earned) ball on four hits, but because the ace was coming off of an injury, he was on a 100 pitch count. So to be cautious, manager Tsuneo Horiuchi removed him even though he had thrown only 81 
balls to the plate. 

Yomiuri went out to a 3-0 lead in the second, when rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to right and Fukuhara nailed first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara on the pinky finger of his lefthand with an 89mph fastball. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo stepped in and pounded a hanging forkball into the leftfield bleachers. 

But in the bottom of the inning, Hanshin rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama crushed an Uehara delivery into the centerfield stands to make it 3-1
Giants. 

In the fourth, Kokubo and catcher Shinnosuke Abe cracked singles to right, but shortstop Tomohiro Nioka grounded into a twin killing 
and Uehara fanned to squander the opportunity. 

The Tigers then came up in the home half and second baseman Makoto Imaoka reached when Kokubo dropped his little fly ball. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto doubled up the leftcenter alley. One out later, third baseman Kentaro Sekimoto flied out to left and Imaoka tagged up
and crossed to make it 3-2 Yomiuri.

Fukuhara then survived a bad fifth in which he surrendered three singles and a sixth that saw the Giants have men on second and third with 
two outs. Kokubo, though, would haunt him again in the seventh. Centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes singled to right with one out and Takahashi singled to left. One out later, Kokubo ripped a double off the rightfield wall to plate Rhodes for a 4-2 Yomiuri lead. 

Masanori Hayashi replaced Uehara for the seventh and Sekimoto singled to right and pinch hitter Yoshinori Okihara singled to center. Catcher Akihiro Yano endeavored to sacrifice the runners along, but he bounced to Hayashi, who went to third for the force. Pinch hitter Hiroshi Yagi singled through the hole between third and short and into left on a breaking ball for his first RBI of the season. One out later, shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to center to cash Yano in with the tying run. Brian Sikorsky took the ball from Hayashi. Imaoka singled to left to load the bases. Kanemoto spanked a 92mph fastball that was up and on the outer half of the plate into center to redeem both Yagi and Fujimoto and put Hanshin on top 6-4. 14 of Kanemoto's 29 RBIs are against the Giants. 

Relievers Yuya Ando and Jeff Williams held the Giants to one hit the final two innings and that was that. 

On the single by Kanemoto, Sikorsky commented, "it wasn't a bad pitch. He just did a good job of hitting." This was Yomiuri's 15th come from ahead defeat, which leads all of Japanese baseball. 

Kokubo, who was a triple short of the cycle, had his first three hit game since becoming a Giant. 

Kiyohara was spelled by Roberto Petagine after the end of the first inning and was taken to the hospital for x rays, where he was diagnosed with a bone bruise. He is day to day. 

Scott, "can somebody please give me some run suppport" Mullen started for Yokohama and went 6.1 innings of three run ball on seven hits and three walks. He has allowed only 17 earned runs in eight starts and is now boasting a 3.17 ERA, but yet is only 2-3. 

Masahiro Yamamoto started for Chunichi and wasn't nearly as good as Mullen, as he was tattooed for four runs in three plus innings on seven hits and walked four before manager Hiromitsu Ochiai dialed local for Makoto Kito. The Dragons bullpen would be tagged for nine hits and three walks over the final nine innings to lose it. 

Yamamoto got into hot water in the first, as centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to right and Woods and leftfielder Takahiro Saeki 
walked to load the bases. But rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo, who is in the midst of a slump that has seen his average fall to .295, grounded to short to frustrate the uprising.

Mullen then had his first jam in the third, when first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe singled to center with one away and, one out later, 
second baseman Masahiro Araki doubled to leftcenter and shortstop Kazuhiro Ibata laced a double to rightcenter to pick up both runners and make it 2-0. 

Yamamoto, though, coughed it right back up in the home episode. Second baseman Seiichi Uchikawas singled to center. Tamura played pattycake with the leftfield wall and Uchikawa sprinted home on the double. Woods singled to right. Saeki lined out to short. Kinji grounded to first and Uchikawa held at third. Hitoshi Taneda walked to pack the sacks. Catcher Ryoji Aikawa walked to force Uchikawa in to knot it at two all. Mullen struckout to temrinate the revolt, but at least he was now even.

The Stars then surged ahead in the fourth. Shortstop Takuro Ishii and Uchikawa each singled to center. Kito entered from the bullpen. 
One out later, Woods walked to crowd the basepaths. Saeki clocked a single to left and Ishii crossed with Uchikawa blazing in behind him
for a 4-2 Yokohama advantage.

They added another in the fifth against Kito on a single to left by Aikawa, a sac bunt, a single to left from Ishii and Uchikawa's single to left
that brought Aikawa in to expand it to 5-2. Tamura walked to load them up and get Woods to the plate with a chance to put this game in the bag. However, he grounded into a twin killing and the Dragons were still in it.

Mullen tired in the seventh, as he gave up a single to center to leftfielder Kazuki Inoue, a one out double off the leftfield fence from Watanabe and a walk before he was sent to the showers in favor of Atsushi Kizuka. Araki singled to center to slingshot Inoue across and make it 5-3. But Ibata foiled the fun by grounding into a double play. 

Dragons reliever Takashi Ogasawara had men on first and third in the bottom of the frame, but he pulled himself out of it unscathed.

That effort was rewarded in the eighth when rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to left off of Eddie Gaillard with one out and Ochoa flattened a hanging slider into the leftfield bleachers to make it a new ballgame at 5-5.

Yokohama had a chance to win it in the tenth when Aikawa insgled to left with one out and Katsuaki Furuki walked and so did Ishii to juice the bags. But Uchikawa flew out to shallow left and Tamura fanned to keep it even. 

Then it was Chunichi's turn to blow it, as third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to left and Fukudome got aboard on an infield hit. Ochoa, though, grounded to short, Inoue flew out to center and, following a free pass to catcher Motonobu Tanishige, Watanabe popped up to second. 

That would be the last real offensive action until the 12th, when Ochoa got a hold of a 3-2 forkball that was down but over the middle of the plate and boosted it into the leftcenterfield bleachers to lend the Dragons  a 6-5 edge. It was the first homer hit off of Sasaki in Japan since Yakult outfielder Mitsuru Manaka did it on July 11, 1999. 

Shigeki Noguchi, back on for his second inning of relief, struck Uchikawa out to begin the bottom of the inning, but Tamura singled to left. 
Noguchi hung a slider to Woods, who buried it in the rightfield seats more than 400 feet away and Sasaki was bailed out for a 7-6 walkoff triumph. 

Araki's second consecutive four hit ninght raised his average to .282. 

The Stars had six players with two hits or more, three of them racking up three. 

Bale was rocked almost as soon as the Japanese national anthem had ended, as Miyamoto turned on an 85mph fastball and basted it into the 
leftfield seats with one out in the first for a 1-0 Swallows lead. 

In the second, Yakult catcher Atsuya Furuta homered to rightcenter leading the inning off to make it 2-0.

Carp leftfielder Tomonori Maeda, though, got his team on the big board in the bottom of the frame when he did some yardwork to rightcenter to cut it to 2-1 Swallows.

Yakult third baseman Akinori Iwamura responded by hooking one into the rightfield stands with one out in the third and it was 3-1 Swallows.

Suzuki would then do the voodoo that he does so well in the sixth, as, following a walk to Iwamura and a double into the leftfield corner by leftfielder Alex Ramirez, he singled to left to invite the runners home for a 5-1 Swallows edge.

Carp second baseman Greg LaRocca leaned into a Beverlin delivery and turned it into a souvenir for the folks in the rightfield stands with two outs in the sixth to make it 5-2. 

The Swallows restored the four run advantage, though, in the eighth on an HBP to Ramirez, a single to center from Suzuki a two out knock to left by rightfielder Billy Martin that loaded the bases and then somehow Ramirez made it home (there was no error, wild pitch, passed ball or steal, so I don't know how it happened) and it was 6-2 Yakult. 

Hiroshima had two on on a pair of walks and one out in the ninth, but Ryota Igarashi popped Takuya Kimura up and Itsuki Asai flew out to center and the Carp suffered their fourth straight loss. 

Beverlin experienced a leg cramp while running out a ground ball in the eighth and left the game. He is expected to make his next 
scheduled start. 

Since returning from a calf pull, Miyamoto is 5-13 with four RBIs in three games. He also helped the Swallows get back to .500 for the 
first time this season since April 27th. 

Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui leadoff the bottom of the first inning Saturday by lining a 3-2 fastball into the bullpen in right at Shea Stadium, his fourth leadoff roundtripper of the year out of his four homers. The quartet of first inning first batter jacks ties a team record set in 1969 by then centerfielder Tommy Agee. He finished the day 1-4 in a 5-4 victory over Colorado. 

Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui went 1-4 with an RBI Saturday in a 4-3 loss to Texas at he tax burden at Arlington. 

For only the second time in his last 20 games, Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was rendered hitless, this time against Detroit at 

According to Sankei Sports, Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo will miss not only his next start, but also one he was scheduled for on the 29th due to a broken nail. The way the former Buffalo was going , though, it may be a blessing in disguise. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was inserted into the starting lineup Saturday in a game against the Cubs and grounded out three times in his three at bats. Chicago won 7-1. 

Meiji University pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba struckout 13 in a complete game four hit 4-1 victory Saturday against Hosei University. It was his 13th CG performance and 25th win as a collegian.