Happy faces in the dugout

April 1, 2002--The Hanshin Tigers, having broken an 11-year opening day losing streak on Saturday, broke a 23-year skid by completing a two-game sweep of their opening series against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome on Sunday night.

The Tigers, who last opened a season with two straight wins in 1979, came from behind to beat the Giants 2-1 in front of a packed house and kept Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara waiting for his first managerial win.

A trio of new Tigers featured prominently in the win. Lefty Trey Moore started and allowed a run on six hits in six innings for the win. Right-handed closer Marc Valdes, the sixth Tigers pitcher of the game, got the save with 1-2/3 innings of perfect relief.

After going a run down in the fourth on Kazuhiro Kiyohara's second homer in two nights, Atsushi Kataoka, Hanshin's free agent signing over the winter, tied it up with an RBI double in the sixth.

"I'm relieved more than happy," said Kataoka, who played 10 years at Tokyo Dome as the infield dynamo for the Nippon Ham Fighters but who came to bat in the sixth already 0-for-5 on the year with nothing but a walk to his credit.

"Yesterday, I put all my strength into everything, he said. "But the team counts on me, so I can't afford to get worked up. It's my job to produce in those situations."

Kiyohara moved into a tie for 11th place on the all-time home run list with Giants legend Shigeo Nagashima with a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth, the 444th of his career.

In the top of the seventh inning, new skipper Senichi Hoshino pulled Moore from the game for a pinch hitter, and Hanshin took the lead with two outs on an RBI single from Norihiro Akahoshi that proved to be the game-winner.

With Moore out of the game, Hoshino had the bullpen door swinging fairly rapidly as a procession of four pitchers faced the next six hitters.

Hoshino called for Valdes with one out in the eighth and a runner on second, and the Tigers new closer responded.

Valdes snapped up five outs like he was late for a dinner reservation.

The only scare came in the ninth, when first baseman George Arias dropped a grounder but tossed to the alert Valdes, who was at the bag right on time.

Moore, who comes anywhere from side-arm to three-quarter overhand with a change up and a good fastball, struck out five while walking Akira Eto once and hitting him once.

"It was very exciting," Moore said of his Japan debut. "Especially here in Tokyo Dome in front of all these people."

Kimiyasu Kudo started for the Giants. After an early battle with his control, Kudo settled into a rhythm, no doubt helped by plate umpire Kenjiro Mori's generous strike zone that extended about 20 centimeters past the outside corner.

The 38-year-old lefty took the loss, with both runs being earned on six hits in 6-2/3 innings of work. He struck out four, walked two and hit a batter.

"I really wanted to win," said Kudo, whose 2001 season was curtailed by injury after just 21-1/3 innings. "That pitch to Kataoka was too high. Overall I pitched well but if you don't win it doesn't mean anything."

Skipper Hara said the Giants would need more offense if they are going to get anywhere. "This time around, those Tigers were pretty tough," he said. "They really moved the ball around on our left-handed hitters. But our offense was just two homers in two nights and that doesn't cut it."

Asked if he was bothered by a lack of run support, Kudo made no excuses. "You can't think of the runs you have to work with," he said. "When you pitch, your job is to not let runs in."

Kiyohara had not given much thought to tying his former manager on the career long-ball list, but was happy to hear that Nagashima was in the stadium to see it. "He saw it, that's really a pleasure for me," said the Giants No. 5 hitter.

After getting single runners on in the first, second and fourth innings, the Tigers finally got to Kudo in the sixth inning.

After Akahoshi struck out looking on a pitch way outside the zone for the the first out, Makoto Imaoka shanked a ball that landed just inside the right-field foul line and rolled toward the corner for a double.

Kataoka, batting third, fell behind in the count before driving a 2-2 pitch from Kudo to the gap in left center.

The at-bat was a memorable one for Kataoka. Here he was in familiar surroundings but in a new uniform and in a new league.

"My first pro at-bat came against Kudo," said Kataoka, who faced the lefty many times in the Pacific League when Kudo pitched for the Seibu Lions and Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. "I was thinking of that tonight."