The Koji Uehara Show took center stage Saturday night, playing to a packed house at the Tokyo Dome in Game 1 of the 2002 Japan Series.
Yomiuri ace Uehara struck out a dozen Lions over nine complete innings while Takayuki Shimizu and Kazuhiro Kiyohara each hit a two-run home run to provide all the offense he needed as the Giants topped Seibu 4-1 in the opener of Japan's version of the annual best-of-seven fall classic.
The much-anticipated matchup of two of the best young arms in Japanese baseball never panned out. While Uehara did his part -- coming up one strikeout short of tying a Japan Series record -- rusty Seibu ace Daisuke Matsuzaka never made it to the fourth inning in a battle of the 1999 Rookies of the Year.
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