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Tokyo Dome | Attendance: 40,452 | Time: 3h 53m | Giants lead series, 2-1.

The Giants took a 2-1 lead in the series by beating the Dragons 6-4.

The Chunichi Dragons took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st after Hirokazu Ibata (1-for-5, R) hit a double into left, advance to third on a ground out, and scored on Masahiko Morino's (1-for-5, HR, R, 2 RBI) homer into the right field stands.

The Giants returned a run in the bottom of the inning when Hayato Sakamoto (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI) start things off with a double and 1 out later came around to score on Michihiro Ogaswara's (3-for-4, BB, 2B, RBI) single into left.  The Giants ended up tying the game in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Alex Ramirez (1-for-5, RBI) with runners on first and second and 1 out.

In the bottom of the 4th, the Giants pulled ahead:

Shinnosuke Abe (1-for-4, HR, R, RBI) led off with a home run.  Shigeyuki Furuki (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R) and Wirfin Obispo (2-for-3, R) reached on bunt singles that put runners on first and second.  Hayato Sakamoto (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI) laid down a sac bunt that advanced the runners to second and third.  And pinch hitter Noriyoshi Ohmichi (1-for-1, 2B, 2 RBI) hit a bases clearing double to put the Giants up by 3.

Sakamoto's RBI single with runners on first and third and 1 out made it 6-2 in the bottom of the 5th.

The Dragons applied some pressure on the Giants in the top of the 8th when Atsushi Fujii (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI) nailed a home run with Kazuhiro Wada (2-for-4, R) on 2nd and 2-out.  Motonobu Tanishige's (1-for-1, HBP, 2 BB, 2B) 2-out double that followed knocked Daisuke Ochi out of the game and forced Marc Kroon to the mound.  Despite throwing a wild pitch that allow Tanishige to get to third, Kroon bore down and retired pinch hitter Kazuyoshi Tatusnami (0-for-1) with a grounder to first.

Kroon's second wild pitch of the night in the top of the 9th following a 1-out single by Masahiro Araki (1-for-4, HBP), put another runner in scoring position.  But Kroon kept his composure and struck out both Morino and Tony Blanco (0-for-4, HBP) for the final two outs of the game.

Missed Opportunities
Dragons
1st: runners on first and second, 2 out > Fujii flied out
2nd: runners on first and second, 2 out > Morino flied out
6th: runners on first and second, 2 out > Hirata infield single, runner on second throw out at home
8th: runner on third, 2 out > pinch hitter Tatsunami grounded out
9th: runner on second, 1 out > Morino struck out and Blanco struck out

Giants
1st: runners on second and third, 2 out > Tani flied out
3rd: runners on first and second, 1 out > Kamei flied out and Tani grounded out
4th: runners on second and third, 1 out > Ramirez fouled out to second, Kamei walked to load the bases, Tani flied out
5th: runners on first and second, 1 out > Lee grounded out, runners on first and third, Ogasawara flied out

Dragons: 9 LOB, 1 DP
Giants: 11 LOB, 0 DP

News
The Giants outhit the Dragons, 15-8. ... Chen was pitching on 4 days of rest. ... Abe was 7-for-17 against Chen during the regular season. ... Blanco struck out 4 times.

Chunichi Dragons

Yomiuri Giants

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...About 100 people were in line 8 hours before the game in order to secure same-day tickets to the game.  Since all the tickets on the first base side were already sold out, only tickets from the third base side (Dragons' side) were available.

...Game 3 starters: Kazuki Yoshimi (CHU) vs Hisanori Takahashi (YOM)

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