Sunday, June 2, 2002

     A circuit clout into the leftfield bleachers at Tokyo Dome with two on in the eighth inning by Hiroshima Carp third baseman Takahiro Arai off of Yomiuri Giants reliever Hideki Okajima proved to be the difference in the game, as the Giants went down at home 8-7. The Carp are back at .500 with the win.

     Masayuki Hasegawa and Hisanori Takahashi were locked up in a scoreless struggle until the top of the fifth, when catcher Kazuyoshi Kimura singled to left off of Takahashi and went to second on a sac bunt. One out later, shortstop Takuya Kimura doubled down the rightfield line and Hiroshima was ahead 1-0.

     Hasegawa, though, forfeited the lead real quickly. In the home portion, third baseman Akira Etoh singled to left with one out. One out later, second baseman Toshihisa Nishi also pinged a knock to left and Etoh managed to slide into third safely. Takahashi beat out a tapper and Etoh went home. Leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu singled to right to plate Nishi and it was 2-1 Yomiuri.

     Hiroshima leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto changed that with a wave of his bat in the sixth, dispatching a Takahashi delivery into the rightcenterfield bleachers to knot it at two all.

     The Giants were persistent, however, and in the bottom half, Etoh drew a two out walk from Hasegawa and catcher Shinnosuke Abe was thrown a fastball on the inner half of the plate and Abe made it disappear into the rightfield seats for a 4-2 Yomiuri advantage.

     Hiroshima surged back in the seventh when Kojiro Machida slugged the 16th pinch hit homer of his career, tying him for first all time for the Central League. That also did away with Takahashi, who was substituted for Tsuyoshi Jobe. Centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to right. Jobe tried to pick Ogata off and threw it down the rightfield line, enabling Ogata to wheel around to third. Takuya Kimura flied out to left and Ogata was able to cross the plate and it was a standstill again at 4-4. That was the first time in 18 games that Jobe had given up a run.

     In the eighth, Kanemoto walked off of Okajima and was sacrificed to second. Rightfielder Tomonori Maeda walked. Arai's turn came and he REALLY liked a hanging curve ball that Okajima threw, So much, in fact, that he practically screwed himself into the ground swinging at it, the ball landing halfway up the leftfield stands, and the Carp had the upper hand at 7-4. You can see a photo of the swing at: http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/06/03/20020603021021.jpg

     The Giants kept on truckin' and turned it into a one run game in their at bats. With one out, first baseman Takayuki Saito walked and Etoh connected on an offering from Carp reliever Kanei Kobayashi and powered it into the leftfield seats to make it 7-6.

     After Hiroshima blew a scoring opportunity in the top of the ninth, Carp closer Yasuhiro Oyamada was left in charge of how his team would fare this night. Feeding the Giants a steady diet of fastballs, seemingly a suicidal tactic against a club that eats them for lunch, he induced a strikeout, a flyout and a groundout for perfect inning and his 12th save.

     Arai's bother Ryota plays for Komazawa University, so will we see the two playing side by side in the future? Stay tuned.

     For Hiroshima, second baseman Diaz was 1-3 with a walk and is at .329. First baseman Luis Lopez was 0-2 with a walk and is at .282.

Pitching Lines:

Hiroshima:

Hasegawa                    IP 6.0 PC 116 H 5 HR 1 K 5 BB 4 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.64
Kobayashi (W, 2-1)   IP 2.0 PC   29 H 2 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.53
Oyamada (S, 12)         IP 1.0 PC   11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.08

Yomiuri:

H. Takahashi         IP 6.1 PC 98 H 6 HR 2 K 6 BB 3 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.34
Jobe                        IP 0.2 PC   8 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 0 ERA 1.00
Okajima (L, 3-2)     IP 1.0 PC 25 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.38
Cho                         IP 0.1 PC   6 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.31
Kawamoto             IP 0.2 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00

E: S. Abe, Jobe
SB: T. Shimizu
3B: T. Kimura
HR: Kanemoto (7), Machida (1), Arai (11), S. Abe (5), Etoh (6)
RBI: Kanemoto, Machida, Arai 3, S. Abe 2, Etoh 2, T. Kimura 2, T. Shimizu, H. Takahashi
IBB: Kanemoto
SF: T. Kimura
LOB: Hiroshima 8, Yomiuri 5

Season Series: Hiroshima 5, Yomiuri 6

Game Time: 3:25
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Kamimoto (1B), Manabe (2B), Ino (3B)