The Giants were out in front before the seats were warm, as second baseman Toshihisa Nishi leadoff the game with a double down the leftfield line and went to third on a groundout before Rhodes blasted a pitch from Swallows starter Katsutoshi Ishido into the leftfield bleachers for a 2-0 lead. 

Ishido then would not last the third. Nishi singled to center and, one out later, Rhodes singled to right. Ishido plunked rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi to load the bases. First baseman Roberto Petagine, making his first start in six games, crushed one over the centerfield wall for a grand slam, his first homer in 22 games and 54 at bats. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo then piggybacked on that with a big jack to left and it was 7-0 Giants. Ishido was sent to the showers, the fourth time in a row that he has had an early departure and Yuhei Takai took his place. 

They tacked on another in the fourth when Nishi walked, leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu, who was playing in his 1000th lifetime game, singled to center and Rhodes walked to juice the bags. Takahashi bounced into a 4-6-3 double play as Nishi toed the dish to enhance the Yomiuri advantage to 8-0.

Yakult finally got on the big board in the home segment, as leftfielder Alex Ramirez tripled off the centerfield fence and strode home on a ground ball off the bat of first baseman Ken Suzuki to make it 8-1. 

But Abe commenced the fifth with a belt into the leftfield stands to surpass Kazuhiro Yamakura for the most taters in a single season by a Giants catcher. Two outs later, Nishi singled to right and Shimizu and Rhodes both walked to load the bases. Takahashi torched a double up the rightcenter alley and Nishi and Shimizu set the controls for the heart of home plate for an 11-1 lead. 

Yakult splattered a duece on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning when centerfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to right and second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi went yard to left to put it at 11-3. 

In the eighth and with Masaru Sato on the mound for Yakult, Takahashi doubled to rightcenter and went to third on a groundout. Satoshi Kuroda flew out to center and Takahashi tagged up and crossed to widen it to 12-3.

Yomiuri rookie hurler Masaki Hiraoka took the mound in the home segment and Iwamaura tagged him for a one out double into the 
leftfield corner and Ramirez reached on an infield hit. Suzuki singed a double to leftcenter to invite Iwamura home. Tomohito Yoneno was hit by a pitch. One out later, Hirobumi Watarai singled to right for an RBI and it was 12-5. 

Yakult then sent the Giants off with some fireworks in the ninth. With one away, Yoshiyuki Noguchi hammered a Hideki Okajima delivery  into the leftfield seats. Iwamura walked. Ramirez got a hanging breaking ball and mashed it into the leftcenterfield bleachers to creep within 12-8. Okajima retired the next two batters and that was it. 

Kokubo has homered for three consecutive games for the first time since 2002. The Giants now have 31 circuit clouts against the Swallows in ten games. 

Ramirez' big fly was his 100th in a Yakult uniform and he did it with his parents in the stands. He becomes the 234th player to the century standard in Japanese annals. 

Uehara has won seven straight a Meiji Jingu Stadium. 

Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi had a less than optimum outing for Hanshin, going four innings of five run ball on seven hits as his solid 2003 is looking more and more like a mirage. 

Yuji Yoshimi started for Yokohama and was actually going along pretty nicely before he was victimized by a three run game tying homer by Hanshin second baseman Makoto Imaoka in the seventh. Thus, his final line read five runs, three earned, on six hits and five walks in seven innings. 

The Tigers had a temporary lead, as Taichiro Kamisaka, starting in place of the slumping centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi, had his little fly ball just over the infield dropped by second baseman Seiichi Uchikawa for an error. After Kamisaka was sacrificed to second, Imaoka singled to left to hail Kamisaka in and make it 1-0.

Shimoyanagi, though, was cuffed around in the bottom portion. With one out, Uchikawa singled to right and leftfielder Takahiro Saeki and first baseman Tyrone Woods walked to load the bases. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to right and Uchikawa loped in. Rightfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo singled to left and Saeki was in. Third baseman Hitoshi Taneda grounded to short and Woods was across. Catcher Ryoji Aikawa walked to load the bases. Yoshimi singled to center and two more scampered in for a 5-1 lead. 

Shimoyanagi settled down, even striking out the side in the third. 

In the fifth, Hanshin got back on the scoreboard when Kamisaka singled to center and shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto singled to right. Imaoka slapped a comebacker to Yoshimi, who, thinking double play, fumbled the ball and everybody was safe. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto flew out to center and Kamisaka tagged up and ran in to make it 5-2 Yokohama. 

They then came all the way back in the seventh, as pinch hitter Hiroshi Yagi doubled off the centerfield wall and Kamisaka singled to right. 
One out later, Yoshimi left a slider in the red zone and Imaoka buried it in the leftfield seats for a 5-5 standoff. 

Hanshin relievers Masashi Sajikihara and Riggan resolved two on, two out confrontations in the seventh and eight respectively peacefully. Yokohama moundmsna Takeo Kawamura faced a similar dilemma down in the top of the ninth. Riggan had never lost a game since coming to Japan in mid-season last year. However, Uchikawa singled to center with one out and, one out later, Woods walked. Riggan threw a hanging slider to Suzuki and he punished it into the seats for the W. Hanshin is now three games under .500. 

Suzuki's last sayonara homer was in 2002 off of Hiroshima reliever Erik Schullstrom. He has four total walkoff roundtrippers lifetime. 

Chunichi grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on a double down the leftfield line by second baseman Masahiro Araki, who went to third on a sacrifice, and a single to center on a slider by third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami.

Noguchi had permitted a total of three hits in the first two innings and then got clocked in the third. Hiroshima centerfielder Koichi Ogata 
walked and, one out later, second baseman Greg LaRocca walked. Shortstop Andy Sheets singled to left to drive Ogata in. Leftfielder Tomonori Maeda whistled a double into the rightfield corner. LaRocca scored easily and Sheets turned on the jets and made it in from first. 
Third baseman Kenta Kurihara reached on an infield hit. First baseman Takahiro Arai singled to right to make it 4-1 Carp. Tsuyoshi Kawagishi was substituted for Noguchi and he obtained the last two outs. 

In the fourth, Ogata doubled to rightcenter and rightfielder Shigenobu Shima singled to center and it was 5-1 Hiroshima. 

Kawauchi lost his way a little bit in the bottom of the inning when he walked both leftfielder Kazuki Inoue and first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe and, one out later, pinch hitter Takayuki Onishi singled to right for the RBI to make it 5-2 Carp.

But Hiroshima saw that one and raised the Dragons another in the fifth when Arai doubled down the leftfield line and went to third on a wild pitch. Carp manager Koji Yamamoto called for a squeeze and Kawauchi laid it down for the RBI. Ogata walked. Shima reached on an infield hit. LaRocca walked to load the bases. Sheets bunted toward the third base line and Ogata crossed as Sheets beat it out to enlarge the lead to 7-2. 

Two innings down the line, Ogata singled to left and Shima walked. LaRocca singled to center and Ogata was home again with an 8-2 advantage. Chunichi went hitless the final three innings and this one was a memory. 

Everyone in the starting lineup for Hiroshima had at least one hit. 

Kawauchi is leading the league in strikeouts per nine among those who qualify for the ERA title with 10.6. 

Chunichi has scored first in 34 of 49 games and are 20-13-1, not real impressive. 

Shima is 16-36 .444 this seaosn against the Dragons, so he is living off of them. 

Arai, who has seemingly disappeared thanks to the development of Kurihara, had his first three hit game of the season. 

Sheets had slumped to the .240 range, but has now pumped it up to .278. 

Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui went 1-5 with an RBI single to right and his ninth steal Saturday against Florida in a 7-6 defeat. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi entered a game against Houston in the eighth and grounded out in his only at bat. St. Louis took it 10-4.

Montreal righthander Tomokazu Ohka started against Cincinnati Saturday and was solid, going seven innings of three run ball on eight hits. However, he didn't figure in the decision, which ended in a 6-3
ten inning victory by the Reds.