A fan fell out of the stands and had to be stretchered off. Four players were hit with pitches, including one who had to be carried off, and one fan got more than she bargained for when a foul ball came hurtling toward her from above. And that was all before things really got exciting.Yomiuri Giants captain Shinnosuke Abe hit a tie-breaking two-run double in the eighth inning and Kenji Yano added the team's first grand slam of the year later in the frame as Yomiuri battered two Hiroshima Carp relievers in a 9-3 win on Friday at Tokyo Dome.
"Our hitters really came through in the eighth," Giants manager Tatsunori Hara said. "I hope we can have more innings like this in our remaining games."
The win pulled the Giants to within three games of the second-place Chunichi Dragons in the race for home-field advantage during the first stage of the Central League Climax Series which begins later this month.
Despite the lopsided result, Yomiuri had been held in check before exploding in a seven-run eighth.
With the score tied 2-2, Daisuke Fujimura led off the inning with a walk and went to second on a single from Hisayoshi Chono. Abe followed with his tie-breaking hit."I wondered if the manager would give me the bunt sign, but he told me to go ahead and hit," Abe said.Having put his captain in the cleanup spot, Hara gave Abe a chance to show what he could do."I told him to hit as he usually does, and that's what he did," Hara said.
Alex Ramirez then singled and Yoshinobu Takahashi drew a walk to load the bases. Yano drove them all in with one swing of the bat.
