Uehara started the game by striking out the side. He then gave up a two out triple to leftcenter to Yokohama rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo, but fanned third baseman Hitoshi Taneda to strand him. Yomiuri then grabbed the first lead of the evening in the home half when first baseman Roberto Petagine walked, third baseman Hiroki Kokubo singled to center and catcher Shinnosuke Abe spanked one back through the middle for an RBI single to make it 1-0. 

In the third, Shimizu blasted a Walker delivery into the rightfield bleachers and it was 2-0 Giants. 

Walker was subsequently victimized by the home run ball again in the fourth, Abe taking him into the rightcenterfield stands with two 
away for his 22nd homer, tying him for most ever by a Yomiuri backstop with Kazuhiro Yamakura, who did it in 1987, for a 3-0 advantage.

Ken Kadokura came on in the fifth for Yokohama and Shimizu greeted him with a drive into the rightfield bleachers for his 100th career jack, the 232nd man in Japanese annals to reach that figure and to make it 4-0. . 

Uehara had seven strikeouts aftter three innings, but he had also thrown 62 pitches, so he put his forkball on the shelf and focused on inducing the hitters to get themselves out and over his final three frames, the Stars lineup accommodated him by going away on eight, nine
and seven pitches respectively. 

Yokohama averted the shutout in the seventh when Junichi Kawahara took the hill and the first man who dug in against him, first baseman Tyrone Woods, obliterated an 89mph fastball 475 feet away into the centerfield seats to put it at 4-1. Two outs later, Taneda singled to center and pinch hitter Takanori Suzuki doubled down the leftfield line to bring the tying run to the plate. But pinch hitter Takahiro Saeki grounded out to quell the uprising. 

The Giants responded with a one out single to center from Shimizu and a two out low liner into the rightfield stands by rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi on a 1-1 89mph fastball that reliever Takeo Kawamura had left out over the fat part of the plate and Yomiuri was in control at 6-1. It was Takahashi's third straight game with a circuit clout. 

However, the kyojin pen would administer another scare in the eighth. Shortstop Takuro Ishii got aboard on an infield hit, though he was erased on a 4-6-3 twin killing. Leftfielder Katsuaki Furuki singled to center. Matt Randel was summoned to the mound and Woods singled to left. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura, though, struckout and Brian Sikorsky retired three of four men he saw in the ninth to turn out the lights. 

Abe's homer was his first in nine games, but he is back on top in all three Triple Crown categories. It was the eighth time this season that the Yomiuri order produced four big flies and they now have 99 on the year, a pace that would give them a new Japan record 301 by the end of the schedule. The Central League record is currently held by Hanshin's 1985 ballclub with 219 while Kintetsu's 1980 squad snagged the overall standard with 239. 

It was Uehara's first win at Tokyo Dome in 2004. The Giants went 13-10 in May as oppposed to the 11-12 they threw up in April. They have won four in a row for the third time this season. 

Walker is back in the lead in homers given up with 17. 

Noguchi has been largely ineffective all season, but despite nine men reaching base against him during his stint, Hanshin never got the 
big knocks that would have done the veteran in. 

For example, in the first, Imaoka singled to left with two outs and leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto singled to center. First baseman Hiroshi Yagi walked to load the bases. But that brought up rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama, who has been abysmal all season with runners in scoring position and he flew out to center to extinguish the rally. 

Sugiyama, who was clocked at 91mph, had his line problem in the fifth, as first baseman Kazuhito Yoshimura torqued a one out double into the rightfield corner and, one out later,  Noguchi singled to right. But the hot hitting Araki flew out to right and that was that.

Hanshin finally splattered something on the big board in the sixth when Imaoka legged out an infield ground ball and Kanemoto seared a double to leftcenter. Yagi struckout, but the ball went to the backstop and he made it to first while Imaoka scored on the passed ball. George Arias walked to load the bases. 

But Chunichi ground out a little threat in the home episode when shortstop Hirokazu Ibata reached on an infield hit and, one out later, rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome walked. Yuya Ando spelled Sugiyama and centerfielder Alex Ochoa flied out to center and leftfielder 
Kazuki Inoue struckout to end the inning.

Ando, though, wouldn't get anyone out in the seventh. With one out, catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to right and pinch hitter 
Masahiko Morino singled to center. Araki singled to left and Kanemoto fumbled it to allow Tanishige to continue to the plate with the tying run. Ibata rolled to Yagi, who booted it to load the bases. Williams jogged in fromt he bullpen. He threw a fastball to Tatsunami, who was jammed somewhat but still rolled it into right and both Morino and Araki wheeled home to make it 3-1 Dragons. Fukudome then struckout and Ochoa grounded out. 

Hanshin attempted a comeback in the eighth against Hitoki Iwase, as Kanemoto singled to left and Yagi doubled up the leftcenter gap, Kanemoto blazing around the basepaths to shrink the deficit to 3-2. But pinch hitters Toshihiro Noguchi and Teruyoshi Kuji struckout 
and Akihiro Yano grounded out to sabotage it. 

Takashi Toritani leadoff for Hanshin in the ninth and singled to center and, after Eiji Ochiai had replaced Iwase,  went to second on a sacrifice. Pinch hitter Koji Hirashita flew out to center. That brought up Imaoka and his better than .460 average with runners in scoring position. They decided to pitch to him and it paid off, as Imaoka slapped a comebacker to Ochiai to ice it. Hanshin's string of eight straight Saturdays with a victory was over. 

Tatsunami has a 17 game hitting streak, 13 of those multihit days. He is 22-44 with runners in scoring position. 

Hanshin has a league worst 29 errors. Last season at this time, they had 18. Yokohama is second worst at 25 miscues. 

Noguchi struck Sugiyama out in the fifth for his 1000th lifetime strikeout. 

Jason Beverlin was also more than solid for seven four hit innings before making a critical mistake in the eighth that permitted the Carp 
to pull away. 

In the first and with a man on for Yakult, LaRocca made a diving stop near the second base bag of leftfielder Alex Ramirez' basehit bid and threw him out. 

Two innings later, Beverlin rolled one up the middle and LaRocca intercepted it and threw across his body to get Beverlin at first. 

There would only be one hit in the game until the fourth, when LaRocca pounded a Beverlin delivery into the leftfield seats for a 1-0 lead.

Very little happened afterward until the eighth, when catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara singled to center and Bale grounded into a 2-6-3 double play. But Beverlin's control suddenly went south. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata and rightfielder Shigenobu Shima walked. LaRocca creamed
one into the leftfield bleachers to make it 4-0 Carp. 

Yakult was so in thrall to Bale that they needed some luck to avoid being shutout. In the bottom of the eighth, first baseman Ken Suzuki walked and was out on a 5-4 forceout from a ground ball by catcher Atsuya Furuta. One out later, second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi walked. Bale sawed pinch hitter Hirobumi Watarai off and he hit a slow grounder toward second. LaRocca grabbed it and threw it away as Furuta negotiated the bases to score. It was ruled an infield hit and an error, but Hiroshima was still out in front 4-1. 

Kan Otake entered for the ninth for Hiroshima and struckout the side to cap it off. It was his first pro save. 

Kita-Kyushu City College righthander Kenichi Nakata has 

New York Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui went 0-3 with a walk and a run scored Saturday against Tampa Bay in a 5-3 win, ending his nine game hitting streak and reducing his average to .312.

White Sox Central.com writer J.D. Koziarsky insists that reliever Shingo Takatsu resembles Saturday Night Live comedian Jimmy 

Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki went 2-5 Saturday against Boston at Fenway Park to raise his average to .332. He also stole a base, his tenth. He now has 17 multihit games in May. 

Reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa was in that game as well ans tossed 1.1
innings of scoreless ball on one hit. The M's took it 5-4.