Domingo Guzman started for Chunichi and was throwing a strong ballgame and then suddenly couldn't get anyone out in the seventh and permitted the tying run to cross. It would be reliever Shinya Okamoto, though, who would be saddled with the loss when he was victimized for the deciding run.

In the first, Kisanuki struckout three of the five men he faced and stranded two men on the basepaths. He would then have at least one man reach in every inning except the fifth through six before he was cuffed around in the seventh. 

Guzman, meanwhile, had a no hitter for 4.2 innings before Yomiuri shortstop Tomohiro Nioka followed a two out walk to catcher Shinnosuke Abe with a single to right. But Kisanuki fanned and the Giants first scoring opportunity went by the wayside. 

Suddenly, though, the momentum shifted in Chunichi's favor in the seventh. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige walked and went to second on a sac bunt and third on a groundout. Kisanuki plunked shortstop Hirokazu Ibata. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to left to plate Tanishige. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome pounded a 1-0 offering from Kisanuki into the rightcenterfield stands and it was 4-0 Dragons.

Unfortunately, Guzman didn't make it stand up. Giants rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to right. First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara, who had struckout in his two previous at bats against the Dominican righty, battled him for six pitches before smoking a 3-2
89mph fastball deep into the leftcenterfield bleachers to halve it to 4-2. Third baseman Akira Etoh singled to center. Abe singled to right. Okamoto took the ball from Guzman and Nioka stroked one into the leftfield corner to redeem Etoh on the double. Pinch hitter Roberto Petagine grounded to first and Abe crossed to even it at four all. Second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to left to cash Nioka in to make it 
5-4 Yomiuri. Hitoki Iwase was substiuted for Okamoto and leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to left. But it stopped there, since centerfielder Tuffy Rhodes grounded into an inning ending double play. 

Randel, appearing in his fourth consecutive game, took it from there, striking Ibata out in the ninth to turn the lights out. The Giants have taken their last six. 

Kiyohara needs four more hits for 2000. When he attains it, he will be given a 20 million yen bonus (about $180,000) by the Giants. The same amount will also be bestowed on Kimiyasu Kodoh when he wins his 200th. With his big jack, the burly slugger becomes only the third player to crack 100 homers at Tokyo Dome, joining Hideki Matsui and Nippon Ham's Yukio Tanaka. 

Keiichi Yabu suffered a frustrating kuroboshi due to the chronic lack of run support he has received, as he gave up three runs on five hits
in six innings. 

Ishikawa had two on in both the first and second, but didn't allow Hanshin to break through on the scoreboard. they did, though, take a lead in the third, as second baseman Makoto Imaoka doubled down the rightfield line with two away and leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto walked. First baseman George Arias singled to right and it was 1-0. 

In the fourth, Hanshin catcher Akihiro Yano tripled off the centerfield wall with one out and may as well have been planted there by the Koshien groundskeepers, as Yabu struckout and shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto flied out to center. 

Nobody had taken Yabu deep this season before the game. That would change in the the fifth. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to right and, one out later, went to second on a sac bunt. Centerfielder Mitsuru Manaka clobbered a cutter that Yabu left out over the plate and landed it in the leftfield seats to make it 2-1 Swallows. 

The first two Tigers hitters reached in the home segment, but a double play ball deep sixed that chance. Yakult then went out and bought some insurance in the sixth. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura walked and, one out later, first baseman Ken Suzuki lined a shot up the rightcenter gap and Iwamura toured the bases on the double for a 3-1 advantage. 

Jerrod Riggan has been the rock of the Tigers bullpen, but he finally proved to be human in the eighth when Iwamura and leftfielder Alex Ramirez spanked one out singles to center and Suzuki singled to left to drive Iwamura in. Catcher Atsuya Furuta singled to center and Ramirez set the controls for the heart of home plate to make it 5-1 Swallows. 

The first two Hanshin batters singled to begin the eighth. However, another double play put a monkey wrench in that uprising. 

Yano homered to center off of reliever Ryota Igarashi leading off the ninth to make it 5-2. The next two men were retired before centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi singled to right. Imaoka singled to left. The comeback attempt was aborted, though, when Kanemoto flied out to right to put it in the books. 

Hiroki Kuroda started for Hiroshima and was thumped for six runs on ten hits in seven innings to continue his disappointing first half of the schedule. 

Miura began the game in kind of a weird way, plunking leadoff man Koichi Ogata in the first and, two strikeouts later, walked shortstop Andy Sheets. However, leftfielder Tomonori Maeda popped out to second. 

But Hiroshima would take the first lead of the match in the second when first baseman Kenta Kurihara mortared one into the 
leftcenterfield seats to make it 1-0.

Kuroda didn't hold on to that very long, though. With one out in the third, second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa singled to right and Furuki crushed an 89mph fastball beyond the rightfield wall for a 2-1 Yokohama advantage. the next two men singled to right, but they were left out on the basepaths. 

Hiroshima had a man on third with one out in the fifth, but a strikeout and a groundout did that in. 

In the seventh, Furuki lambasted an 88mph fastball into the leftcenterfield bleachers with two outs. First baseman Tyrone Woods singled to right. Leftfielder Takahiro Saeki walked. Tamura leaned into a fastball and buried it in the centerfield stands to hike the Yokoham lead up to 6-1. 

An inning later, they snatched another run on a single to center catcher Ryoji Aikawa off of reliever Masaki Hayashi and went to second on a sacrifice. Shortstop Takuro Ishii singled to center to load the bases. Uchikawa grounded to Kurihara, who was now stationed at third, and he booted it, Aikawa crossing to put it at 7-1 Stars. 

Furuki owns Kuroda. He hit .333 against him last season and is 6-9 off of him this season. 

Six Yokohama hitters finished with two hits or more while Hiroshima had three of their players strikeout three times. 

The shortstop of the other New York team. Kazuo Matsui, went 1-5 Tuesday against Philadelphia to extend his hitting streak to six. He also stole a base and scored a run. The Mets won it 4-1 in ten innings. He is also currently third in the all star voting at short.

White Sox reliever Shingo Takatsu came on in the 11th inning against Oakland Tuesday with two men aboard and he got the one man he faced to roll into a double play and then was removed. He now 

Dodgers righthander Hideo Nomo will make a minor league rehab appearance on the third and will then make a start against Toronto on the eighth. 

Seattle rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki had two infield hits Tuesday against Toronto at (insurance company) Field in four at bats to extend his hitting streak to nine games. He was also intentionally walked 
and reached on an error. After the miscue, he stole second. The Mariners lost 6-5.