Intertwined ...

First things first as interleague play begins

The refreshing break from the team-limited leagues in Japan kicked off on Wednesday as interleague started with a night of great games. The defending Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants, leaders of the Central League, fell to nemesis Takayuki Kishi and the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions.
Kishi (6-1), who tormented the Giants in helping the Lions beat Yomiuri in seven games in the 2008 Japan Series, tossed his second complete game this season and won his sixth straight decision in a 3-1 win at Tokyo Dome.
The right-hander scattered four hits, fanning nine and walking one, and retired the last 18 batters. Including Japan Series play, Kishi improved to 4-0 lifetime vs. the Giants.
The Giants wasted perhaps Dicky Gonzalez’s best performance of the season. The right-hander fell to 3-4, but scattered five hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks. He was hurt by a pair of solo homers, Dee Brown’s shot putting the Lions ahead in the fourth and Hiroyuki Nakajima’s shot adding insurance in the seventh. Nakajima’s scoring flyball in the fourth gave Seibu its first run.
Alex Ramirez, looking for his 300th homer, and Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara, a win away from 500, both got shut out of potential celebrations. The teams meet again tonight at the dome.

DRAGONS 5, HAWKS 1
Kazuhiro Wada hit his CL-high 13th longball and Kazuki Yoshimi (6-1) fired seven innings of one-run ball for his sixth straight win as Chunichi topped Fukuoka SoftBank at Nagoya Dome.
The Dragons, who had just seven stolen bases coming into the game, swiped five in eight innings vs. the Hawks, all with former Chunichi farm catcher Hidenori Tanoue behind the plate. Masahiko Morino had three hits for the Dragons, raising his CL-high average to .416.

FIGHTERS 4, TIGERS 2
Atsunori Inaba had three RBIs, including two on a ninth-inning homer that proved to be the difference as Nippon Ham topped Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
Inaba’s fifth homer helped give Bobby Keppel (5-1) his fifth win on a team that’s 10 games under .500. Keppel threw a 127-pitch complete game, scattering eight hits and two walks with four punchouts.

BUFFALOES 2, SWALLOWS 1
Tomotaka Sakaguchi’s RBI triple in the top of the 10 th inning helped Orix get past CL cellar-dwelling Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Jon Leicester nailed it down with a perfect ninth, fanning two in the process. Kazuki Kondo held the Swallows to one run over seven innings but go a no-decision.

MARINES 2, BAYSTARS 1
Saburo Omura’s homer in the fourth inning -- his seventh -- broke a 1-1 tie and Shunsuke Watanabe (3-3) and three relievers kept Yokohama scoreless the rest of the way to beat former teammate Naoyuki Shimizu (4-3).
Shimizu allowed five hits and four walks over eight innings as the hard-luck loser.
The Rakuten Eagles and Hiroshima Carp were idle.