The fans may have come out to see major-league stars like Ichiro Suzuki, Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, but it was a local boy who stole the show.
Yomiuri Giants ace Koji Uehara allowed just one run on five hits and struck out eight over six innings Sunday at the Tokyo Dome -- including Bonds, the most feared hitter in baseball today, three times and Giambi twice -- as a team of Japanese All-Stars beat their North American counterparts 8-4 in the opener of a seven-game series.
Bonds and Giambi each had a pair of homers in a warmup game against the Giants on Saturday, an 8-1 win by the MLB stars. Prior to Sunday, San Francisco slugger Bonds, the likely National League MVP this year, had not struck out three times in a game since Aug. 8, 2001.
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