Moving a step closer to 40 home runs was the easy part for Alex Ramirez. Getting teammate Yoshitomo Tani to join him onstage for a post-game performance during the hero interview? Now that took some effort.
Ramirez drove in three runs and was one of four Yomiuri Giants to go deep, and the Yomiuri offense snapped out of a funk with a 12-5 rout of the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers on Friday at Tokyo Dome.
Ramirez homered to straightway center in the fifth to bring his Japanese baseball-leading total to 39 and is now four RBIs shy of 100 for the season. He ended the night 3-for-4.