Yomiuri slugger Hideki Matsui slammed three homers in three straight at-bats to tie Roberto Petagine of the Swallows for the Central League home-run lead at 36, but the Giants fell short, losing 11-10 to the Hiroshima Carp at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday.
Central League WonLostTiedPct.GB Yakult 73 52 5 .584 - Yomiuri 75 61 2 .551 3.5 Hiroshima 61 61 7 .500 10.5 Yokohama 61 63 4 .492 11.5 Chunichi 59 69 4 .461 15.5 Hanshin 53 76 2 .411 22.0 Pacific League WonLostTiedPct.GB Kintetsu 76 58 2 .567 - Daiei 73 63 1 .537 4.0 Seibu 73 64 0 .533 4.5 Orix 66 64 4 .508 8.0 Lotte 63 71 2 .470 13.0 Nippon Ham 51 82 3 .383 24.5
With the Carp up 10-2 in the third inning, Matsui drilled a solo homer off Daisuke Sakai into the center-field bleachers. After the Giants narrowed Hiroshima's lead to five runs, 10-5, in the fifth, Matsui connected for a solo blast off Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara into the center-left bleachers.