A time of sorrow ...

Tears fall, Giants rise

The Yomiuri Giants took the field at Koshien Stadium with heavy hearts on Wednesday, but Michihiro Ogasawara paid tribute to a fallen comrade the best way he knew how: with his bat.
Baserunning and infield coach Takuya Kimura was pronounced dead at 3:22 a.m. at a Hiroshima hospital early Wednesday and Ogasawara had four hits, including a two-run homer and two RBIs as the Giants beat Hanshin 3-0 for their fifth straight victory.
Kimura, a 19-year veteran who retired after the Giants won the Japan Series last year, collapsed before Friday’s Central League game near home plate at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.
The 37-year-old suffered a brain hemorrhage and never regained consciousness. Reports said the Miyazaki Prefecture native complained of a headache the day before he collapsed.
“There were still a lot of things that I had to learn from him,” said Yoshinobu Takahashi, who is being converted from outfielder to first baseman.
After holding a moment of silence before playing the Tigers, Kentaro Nishimura fired seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks while fanning two for his first win as starter since Aug. 2, 2006.

DRAGONS 2, BAYSTARS 0
Takashi Ogasawara (1-1) threw seven scoreless innings to outduel Stephen Randolph (0-3), who allowed just one run in his seven innings as Chunichi won its sixth straight, blanking host Yokohama.
Motonobu Tanishige slugged his second homer in as many days against his old team, and Hitoki Iwase put a pair of runners on before closing it out in the ninth for his fourth save.

SWALLOWS 7, CARP 1
Jamie D’Antona had four hits, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs, and Shohei Tateyama (2-0) allowed just an unearned run in eight innings as Yakult pounded Hiroshima at Jingu.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

EAGLES 6, FIGHTERS 3
Takeshi Yamasaki cracked his first homer, and Ryo Hijirisawa had two hits and an RBI as Rakuten sent struggling Nippon Ham to another loss, this one at Sapporo Dome.
The defending PL champs sunk to a franchise-worse fifth consecutive series loss since the start of the season.

LIONS 9, BUFFALOES 2
Hiroyuki Nakajima homered and drove in five runs to overcome former teammate Alex Cabrera’s four-hit night as Seibu downed visiting Orix, which has lost five straight.

MARINES 5, HAWKS 0
Fourth-year right-hander Yuta Omine (1-0) tossed a four-hitter for his second career shutout, fanning 10 and walking two as Lotte blanked SoftBank at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.