Left-hander Shigeki Noguchi, who joined the Yomiuri Giants as a free agent in the offseason, failed to make an impact in his bid for a spot in the starting rotation with a shaky five-inning outing in a preseason exhibition game Monday.
The former Chunichi Dragons ace allowed four leadoff batters to reach base and gave up three runs on seven hits against the Hanshin Tigers in his second preseason start and first since yielding a run on four hits against the Softbank Hawks on March 5.
Shunsuke Hara hit a three-run homer for Yomiuri in a game that ended in a 4-4 tie after nine innings at Nagaragawa stadium in Gifu.
Masato Akamatsu and Andy Sheets both had three hits for the Tigers. Hanshin right-hander Naohisa Sugiyama struggled with his control but threw five shutout innings, allowing two hits and six walks.