Almost perfect …

Yamai brings back memories with shutout

Daisuke Yamai, the man who threw eight perfect innings in the 2007 Japan Series clincher only to get the hook in the ninth because of a bleeding blister, fired a five-hitter for his first shutout in six years on Friday at The Zoom.
Yamai (4-2) walked a pair and fanned five, going the distance in a 4-0 victory over Hiroshima for his second career shutout -- his first also came against the Carp on Sept. 12, 2004.
Dionys Cesar knocked in a first-inning run with an RBI single and another run came across on Noamichi Donoue’s double play to stake Yamai, who won his third straight decision, to an early lead.
Kazuhiro Wada slugged his team-high 24th longball, a two-run shot in the seventh, as the Dragons halted a two-game skid. Wada went 2-for-4, raising his average to .351 and moving him back atop the Central League.
Carp cleanup man Kenta Kurihara, who was selected as an all-star, will be replaced by teammate Jun Hirose.

GIANTS 7, BAYSTARS 6
Alex Ramirez moved into sole possession of the home lead by belting a pair of longballs, Nos. 30 and 31, to help lift Yomiuri past host Yokohama.
Hayato Sakamoto’s two-run double in the eighth proved to be the difference for the front-running Giants, who lead Hanshin by 2.5 games.
Ramirez became the third foreign player to hit at least 30 homers in three straight seasons, matching his total from last year in his 86th game.
The Giants also stopped their club-worst string of double digits in hits allowed at 12, using six pitchers to hold the BayStars to eight hits.

SWALLOWS 3, TIGERS 1
Ryoji Aikawa’s tiebreaking two-run triple in the sixth helped boost Yakult past Hanshin at Jingu Stadium.
Masanori Ishikawa (4-8) scattered five hits over seven innings for the victory, the Swallows’ season-best sixth straight.
Tomoaki Kanemoto, who had been reduced to pinch-hitting and DHing since a shoulder injury took him out of the Tigers' lineup on April 11 and broke his consecutive-innings streak, started in left but went 0-for-4.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 2, MARINES 0
Ace Hideaki Wakui (11-5) scattered seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts as Seibu blanked Lotte at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Takumi Kuriyama and pinch-hitter Yoshihito Ishii knocked in runs in the eighth to break a scoreless tie.

FIGHTERS 5, EAGLES 4
Eiichi Koyano knocked in two early runs with a double and Yoshio Itoi homered as Nippon Ham edged Rakuten at The Kleenex Box.

HAWKS 6, BUFFALOES 1
Jose Ortiz cracked his PL-leading 21st homer and Hidenori Tanoue and Nobuhiro Matsuda also went deep as SoftBank topped Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.