The Hanshin Tigers, after disastrously losing a series to Hiroshima, rebounded Friday with a 6-4 victory against Yakult at Koshien Stadium to draw within 3.5 games of first place Yomiuri. Ryan Voglesong started for the Tigers and went 6.1 innings of three run (two earned) ball on six hits and struckout five without walking anyone to improve to 7-4. 

Masanori Ishikawa started for the Swallows and went four innings of five run, seven hit pitching in his sixth defeat. 

Yakult leftfielder Alex Ramirez tripled to right with two outs in the first and Vogelsong plunked rightfielder Aaron Guiel. But first baseman Yuichi Matsumoto grounded to first to foil the rally. 

Shortstop Takashi Toritani then singled to center in the bottom stanza and went to second on a sacrifice. Third baseman Andy Sheets singled to left to cash Toritani in with a 1-0 lead. One out later, Ishikawa nailed rightfielder Kodai Sakurai with a delivery. First baseman Mitsunobu Takahashi singled to right and Sheets motored home to make it 2-0. Catcher Akihiro Yano popped up to stall the uprising out. 

Toritani singled to left in the second with two outs and centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi walked, but Ishikawa picked Toritani off of second to kill the chance off. 

The Swallows would subsequently even it up in the third, as centerfielder Norichika Aoki singled to left and went to second on a sacrifice. Ramirez drove a shot to deep left and it got up into the wind and carried into the seats for a 2-2 tie. 

However, leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto blasted a slider into the centerfield bleachers in the home edition for his 390th lifetime and, one out later, Takahashi crushed a fastball beyond the leftfield wall for his first roundtripper of the year to go up 4-2. 

They tacked on another in the fourth when second baseman Kentaro Sekimoto thumped an Ishikawa offering into the great wide open in center to raise it to 5-2. 

Following the Ramirez jack, Vogelsong restrained Yakult on two singles through six, one of those being neutralized on a double play. But in the seventh, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto singled to right and, one out later, Mitsuru Manaka was sent up to pinch hit for the pitcher's spot. Tigers skipper Akinobu Okada went to the pen for Jeff Williams. Manaka singled to right and the runners moved up on a sacrifice. Third baseman Yasushi Iihara grounded to Sekimoto, who booted it, and Miyamoto crossed. Ramirez legged out an infield hit and Manaka was in to close within 5-4. Guiel struckout and the next six Swallows batters would be retired in order by Tomoyuki Kubota and Kyuji Fujikawa to wrap it up. 

Hashin, though, grabbed a piece of insurance in their ups against Brian Sikorski, as Shinjiro Hiyama pinch hit for Williams and singled to center. Keisuke Kano pinch ran for Hiyama and went to second on a sacrifice. Akahoshi singled to left and Kano journeyed to the promised land to put it at 6-4 and that is how it ended. 

Kubota had 17 appearances for the month to tie a pro yakyu record and it was his 72nd overall. 

The Tigers finished 15-10-2 in August and they are assured of prevailing in their season series with the birds.

For Yakult, Ramirez was 3-4 and is at .348. He was a double short of the cycle. Guiel was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .253. 

For Hanshin, Sheets was 2-4 and is at .247. Vogelsong was 0-2 and is at .167. 

The Chunichi Dragons got a break Friday when Yomiuri dropped its game with Yokohama, and they took advantage, as starter Kenta Asakura went the distance on nine hits for his first complete game of the campaign, partially thanks to a game ending assist from the outfield by backup rightfielder Atsushi Fujii, and second baseman Masahiro Araki converted with a runner in scoring position in the seventh for a 2-1 victory. They are now just one behind the Giants in the standings. 

Michito Miyazaki started for the Carp and went five innings of one run, six hit ball in a no decision. 

Hiroshima third baseman Takahiro Arai doubled to left and went to third on a groundout. First baseman Kenta Kurihara flied out to right and Arai tagged up and crossed for a 1-0 lead. 

The Dragons put two on with two out in the third, but a lineout subverted it. 

However, in the fourth, first baseman Tyrone Woods singled to right and rightfielder Masahiko Morino doubled to right. Centerfielder Byung-kyu Lee scalded a shot to leftcenter, where leftfielder Tomonori Maeda ran it down with a diving grab. Woods tagged up and scurried in to tie it at one apiece, but Maeda saved an additional run with that play. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura flied out for the third out. 

The fish put men on second and third with one out in the bottom sgement, but a groundout and a flyout paralyzed the runners. 

Chunichi would have a similar opportunity in the fifth, but Miyazaki served up two grounder to short and was out of the inning. 

Thus it remained deadlocked until the seventh, when catcher Motonobu Tanishige walked against Tomohiro Umetsu and went to second on a sacrifice. One out later, Araki singled to left and spurred Tanishige in for a 2-1 edge. The next seven Dragons hitters would go away without a single objection. 

In the ninth, though, centerfielder Alex Ochoa singled to left and was erased on a 6-4-3 double play. Maeda singled to right and Jun hirose pinch ran for him. Kurihara walked. Rightfielder Shigeru Morikasa singled to right. Fujii uncorked a rocket to the plate and Hirose was called out to turn the lights out. 

Maeda now has 1999 hits.

For Chunichi, Woods was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .280. Lee was 1-3 with the sac fly and is at .258. 

For Hiroshima, Ochoa was 2-4 and is at .340. 

A two run homer in the sixth by catcher Ryoji Aikawa capped off a four run rally and it put them up far enough so that they were able to stem a Yomiuri comeback for a 7-6 victory at Yokohama Stadium. Kimiyasu Kodoh set a new record with his sixth win after age 44 by going six innings three run, eight hit ball for his third win against the kyojin in 2007.

Tetsuya Utsumi started for Yomiuri and was shelled for seven runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings to decline to 12-6. 

Leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani beat out a ground ball toward third in the first and went to second on a sacrifice. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi singled to center and Tani hotfooted it for home. But centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo is very accurate and he put it right in Aikawa's glove to shoot Tani down. 

In the bottom half, Bay Stars second baseman Toshihisa Nishi singled to right and went to second on a sacrifice. Kinjo singled to left. Utsumi endeavored to get a fastball in on third baseman Shuichi Murata, a dead fastball hitter. But he missed his spot and Murata howitzered it 440 feet away in left for a 3-0 lead. 

But in the second, Giants second baseman Seung-yeop Lee singled to right and catcher Shinnosuke Abe walked. Centerfielder Damon Hollins doubled down the leftfield line and propelled Lee in. Manager Tatsunori Hara called for a squeeze bunt with Utumi up and it was executed to make it 3-2. 

They would pull alongside Yokohama in the third when second baseman Takuya Kimura singled to left and Takahashi singled to right. Third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara doubled to rightcenter to get Kimura in. Kudoh struck the next two men out and Abe flied out to left to freeze the runners. They would get only two more hits through seven, one of those on the infield. 

However, things would trend the Stars way in the sixth, as Murata and first baseman Yuki Yoshimura each singled to center, Murata turning and butning for third safely and Yoshimura sneaking into second on the play at third. Leftfielder Yosuke Shimokubo singled to center to shoot Murata across. Rightfielder Seiichi Uchikawa flied out to center and Yoshimura tagged up and ran in. Aikawa got a hanging slider and pasted it into the leftfield stands to pump it up to 7-3. 

In the eighth, though, shortstop Tomohiro Nioka singled to right off of Matt White and Lee went yard to right to narrow it to 7-5.

Yokohama put men on first and third with one out in the eighth, but a groundout and a strikeout caved that in. 

Mark Kroon came on looking to ice it in the ninth and, with two outs, Takahashi cleaned and jerked a forkball into the rightfield bleachers to make it 7-6. But Ogasawara grounded to first and it was game setto. 

Yomiuri finished 15-10-1 this month. Reliever Kentaro Nishimura was in 17 of those matches, which, as with Kubota, tied a pro yakyu mark. 

Kudoh now has 221 wins lifetime, tying him with Mutsuo Minagawa for 14th on the all time list. He is also the oldest man to ever win three against the Giants in a season. 

For Yomiuri, Lee was 2-3 with a walk and is at .273. Hollins was 2-3 and is at .261. 

Kentaro Hashimoto, who has been dealing with a back injury, struckout the side in the fifth and was clocked at 91mph. It was his first game actio since July 18th. 

Miscellaneous Boston reliever Hideki Okajima has come down with a back problem as has knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Right now, Okajima is day to day, but if he has to go on the DL at a time when the Red Sox are trying to hold off the Yankees in the American League East it could really foul their chances. 

Yankees leftfielder Hideki Matsui was 0-3 Friday in a 9-1 loss to Tampa Bay. Rays third baseman Akinori Iwamura was 1-4 with two walks. 

Down on the farm, Kei Igawa went seven innings of three run, five hit ball while striking out nine against Pawtucket for his fifth win. 

The Mariners continue to head south as if they were Canadian snowbirds, dropping a 7-5 battle to Toronto for their seventh straight defeat. Centerfielder Ichiro Suzuki was 3-5 while catcher Kenji Johjima was 2-4 with an RBI. Ichiro needs four more hits for 200. 

This is a little unbelievable for Mariners fans, who remember Mike Timilin for getting hammered while he was on their roster, but he made his 1000th appearance Friday, only the 13th to do that. But he was tagged for a three run homer and four runs total during his stint. 

Cardinals outfielder So Taguchi was 1-1 in an 8-5 victory over Cincinnati. 

Colorado second baseman Kazuo Matsui was 1-5 with a sacrifice in a 7-3 victory over Arizona.