Chunichi Dragons starter Kenichi Nakata has extended his string of winning decisions at Nagoya Dome to 12 Saturday, as he went eight innings of three run, seven hit ball and struckout nine with no walks in a 4-3 final over Yomiuri. The Giants have dropped their last four confrontations with the Nagoya nine. 

Chiang Chien-ming started for Yomiuri and had bad control, as he walked three in 2.1 innings of three run, four hit ball on 63 pitches for his fourth loss. One of those free passes came around to score while the other two forced runs in. 

The Giants grabbed a temporary lead in the second when first baseman Seung-yeop Lee got an 88mph fastball and blistered it into the rightcenterfield seats to make it 1-0. But the generated only two other hits through five. 

The Dragons overturned the deficit in the third, as catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to center and, one out later, shortstop Hirokazu Ibata walked. Second baseman Masahiro Araki singled to left to load the bases. Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome walked to force in the tying run and first baseman Tyrone Woods walked to force Ibata in. Chiang was pulled in favor of Kentaro Nishimura and leftfielder Masahiro Morino singled to left to cash Araki in to put it at 3-1. A popup and a strikeout hindered further damage. 

But in the fourth, Tanishige singled to left and Nakata attempted to lay down a sac bunt, but hit it back to Nishimura, who fired to second for the force on Tanishige. One out later, Araki singled to right and Nakata burst into third. Fukudome doubled fown the rightfield line and Nakata loped in to stretch it to 4-1. Woods, though, fanned to strand the runners. 

Yomiuri got out the Archie Bell and the Drells records and did the tighten up in the sixth when third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara singled to center with two away and Lee doubled into the rightfield corner. Shortstop Tomohiro Nioka singled to center and Ogasawara and Lee found paydirt to narrow the gap to 4-3. Catcher Shinnosuke Abe struckout and they would amass only a single from there on in, closer Hitoki Iwase sealing it with a perfect ninth to put Chunichi back in first place. 

Of Morino's 31 RBIs on the year, 18 of them have been at the expense of the Giants. 

Kiyoshi Toyoda wove a flawless sixth and was clocked at 91mph. 

Nakata was clocked at 92mph. 

For Yomiuri, Seung-yeop Lee was 2-4 and is at .260. Centerfielder Damon Hollins was 1-3 with two strikeouts and is at .255. 

For Chunichi, Woods was 0-2 with two walks and is at .327. Centerfielder Byung-kyu Lee was 0-3 and is at .244. 

Coming into this game, the Hanshin hadn't racked up a single complete game this season, but starter Naohisa Sugiyama rectified that with an eight hit, 122 pitch shutout at Koshien Stadium against Yokohama in a 6-0 victory. First baseman Andy Sheets lent support to Sugiyama with a pair of homers and three RBIs. 

Yoshihiro Doi, who had been 5-0 in day games in 2007, was bullied for five runs and nine hits in 4.2 innings to fall to 5-1, as his slider was flat and he left too many hittable fastballs in the fat part of the zone. 

Tigers shortstop Takashi Toritani doubled to right in the bottom of the first for his first two bagger in 65 plate appaearances and Doi plunked second baseman Kentaro Sekimoto. Sheets flew out to center and Toritani tagged up and advanced to third. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto grounded to short and Toritani scurried home for a 1-0 lead. Third baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to center, but rightfielder Lin Wei-tzu grounded out to halt the rally. 

A mental mistake then cost the Stars in the second. With one out, centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo singled to right and went to third on a single to center by first baseman Yuki Yoshimura. Yoshimura, though, took too big a lead and was picked off by Sugiyama. Sugiyama nailed catcher Kazunari Tsuruoka with a delivery. Doi struckout and that was the last time that Yokohama was in the game. 

Sheets stepped in with two outs in the third and torched a first pitch curve ball into the leftfield seats to make it 2-0. 

Hanshin rookie Kodai Sakurai, in his initial pro start in centerfield, singled to right in the fifth for his first lifetime knock and was sacrificed a long. One out later, Sekimoto singled to left and Sakurai crossed. Sheets went gorilla on a second pitch shuuto over the leftcenterfield wall for a two run homer and it was 5-0. They put two more on in the inning, but Lin flied out to leave them loitering. 

After giving up a leadoff single in the third, Sugiyama retired 13 of the next 15 to cruise through seven. In the eighth, though, an infield single by second baseman Toshihisa Nishi with one out and a single to left from Takuro Ishii had Yokohama hassling Sugiyama, but rightfielder Takahiro Saeki flied out to left and third baseman Shuichi Murata grounded out to quell the disturbance. 

The Tigers then pushed another run across in the bottom stanza, as Lin and catcher Akihiro Yano singled to center and pinch hitter Ikuro Katsuragi was hit by a pitch. Sugiyama struckout, but Toritani's single ushered Lin in to widen it to 6-0. Sekimoto grounded into a double play to bog things down. 

Sugiyama plunked pinch hitter Seiichi Uchikawa to commence the ninth and he was liquidated on a double play ball. Yoshimura outran a ground ball for a single. But Tsuruoka flew out to right and that was that. It was Sugiyama's first whitewash in two years. 

Yokohama has lost six in a row and are back at .500. 

For Hanshin, Sheets was 2-4 and is at .252. Lin was 1-4 and is at .346 and now has am 11 game hit streak. 

For Yokohama, Joselo Diaz was clocked at 94mph while twirling two innings of one run, five hit ball to raise his ERA to 3.48. 

Yakult starter Seth Greisinger went six innings of two run, five hit ball against Hiroshima Saturday to terminate his club's seven game losing string in a 6-2 victory at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium. He is 4-2 on the campaign and this was his first shiroboshi since April 20th. 

Shinji Sasaoka started for the Carp and three innings of five run, eight hit ball to decline to 2-4. He has been shelled for 13 runs in his last six innings. 

The Swallows had two on and two out in the second and that was speared on a groundout. In the third, though, centerfielder Norichika Aoki and third baseman Yasushi Iihara each singled to right and leftfielder Alex Ramirez singled to center to load the bases. Rightfielder Aaron Guiel whistled a hot shut over the first base bag and down the line for a two run double. First baseman Ryuji Miyade singled to left and Ramirez reported. Miyade somehow ended up at second (advanced on a relay home?) and second baseman Noriyuki Shiroishi singled to center to chase in another pair for a 5-0 lead. 

Hiroshima had two on and one out in the bottom half, but that was interdicted on a double play. 

They had two on with two outs in the fourth as well and a ground ball killed that off. 

The Swallows were then given a run in the fifth, as Guiel singled to right with one out and, following another out, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto singled to left, Guiel getting intio third. Reliver Masayuki Hasegawa unleased a wild pitch and Guiel scampered in to make it 6-0. 

The Carp saw that one and raised Yakult one in their turn when Greisinger plunked pinch hitter Osuga and shortstop Eishin Soyogi powdered one into the leftfield bleachers to depress the deficit to 6-2. Greisinger and two relievers put the next 14 hitters away and that was all she wrote for the four game Hiroshima win spree. 

It also prevented Yakult from suffering its first eight game losing skid in 15 years. 

For Hiroshima, Victor Marte got the one man he faced in the ninth. 

For Yakult, Guiel was 2-4 and is at .237. Ramirez was 2-5 and is at .329. Greisinger was 0-3 and is at .105. 

Hanshin Hanshin's Western League club had a practice game against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Kobe's industrail league nine and outfielder Osamu Hamanaka went 0-4. 

Miscellaneous Kei Igawa made a start down in the Florida State League for the Yankees Saturday and didn't do all that well, giving up two unearned runs on three hits in four innings while striking out two and walking two while working on rejiggering his mechanics. So it looks like he will be kept down there a little longer until he can become more consistent. This has to be pretty humiliating for Igawa, though, a former Sawamura Award winner and MVP who has been sentenced to A ball. 

The other thing one can say about that is that if Igawa's mechanics were so screwed up didn't Yankees scouts see that before they went out and spent a king's ransom to sign him? Maybe this is what they get for allowing Pacific Rim scout John Cox to get away to another ballclub (was it San Francisco?) last year, but GM Brian Cashman really screwed up by throwing so much money at Igawa at any rate. 

Back in the bigs, Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui was 1-5 in a 10-7 defeat to the Mets. 

Boston Red Sox righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka, meanwhile, has now won five in a row, as he went eight innings of three run, nine hit ball on 104 pitches against Atlanta in a 13-3 victory. He has now gone two starts without walking anyone. He was clocked at 93mph. 

Pirates minor league righthander Masumi Kuwata threw 47 pitches batting practice Saturday and said he felt good. The hitters couldn't do much with him and one even broke his bat. 

Mariners centerfielder Ichiro Suzuki stole two more bases Saturday and went 2-5 at the plate in a 7-4 victory over San Diego that halted Seattle's three game losing skid. Suzuki now has a 12 game hit streak. Catcher Kenji Johjima was 0-4. 

Kazuo Matsui made a minor league start Saturday for Colorado and went 1-3 with a walk and a steal. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was 1-5 with an RBI Saturday in an 8-7 loss to Detroit. 

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi was 3-4 with an RBI Saturday against the Cubbies in an 11-6 defeat.