Yomiuri slugger Hideki Matsui drilled his Central League-leading 34th and 35th homers but it was not enough as Takuro Ishii nailed a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 11th inning to lift the Yokohama BayStars over the Giants 6-5 at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday, avoiding a sweep of the three-game series.
With the loss, coupled with the win of the second-placed Yakult Swallows, the Giants' no longer hold the "magic number" but still lead the Swallows by eight games.
Ishii, who belted a solo home run in the fourth inning for his 1,500th career hit, singled up the middle in the 11th to bring home the tie-breaking run.