Johjima Hits Three, Two in 9th

Although the Giants' Matsui took the front page for his sayonara home run against my 'Stars last night (4/13), the real home run hero of the night was the Hawks' Johjima.  In a 9 run 9th inning at Green Stadium Kobe, Johjima drove in 5 runs on two home runs.  Add that to his 2-run home run in the 5th, and 7 of Daiei's 18 runs in this taming of the 'Waves were round trippers by the all star catcher.Johjima became the 15th person to hit two home runs in a single inning.  Ohshima Yasunori (surname first) - currently Nippon Ham's manager - is the only player in Japan to do it twice - both times while playing for Chunichi.  The last time it was done was on August 9, 1998 by Troy Neel (Orix) against these very same Hawks.  What goes around, comes around, huh?

In the game, Daiei hit a total of 6 home runs, so Johjima accounted for half of them.  Shibahara hit a solo shot in the 7th inning to make the score 9-1.  Then Iguchi hit a 2-run shot and Mitchell soloed in the 9th to complement Johjimas two home runs in the inning.

Raggio threw the whole game for Daiei, having more than enough run support to give up a pair of runs in the 9th without much fear.  He's now won all three of his starts.