Rookie Yuya Ando: sterling debut

The Hanshin Tigers finally hit a speed bump. After racing to victory in their first seven games with an intensity that would put Formula One champion Michael Schumacher to shame, the Tigers' dream start came to a skidding stop on Sunday afternoon in a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Yakult Swallows.

Roberto Petagine broke an 0-for-10 streak in the series with a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to put a cork on the Tigers' winning streak.

With at least half of the near-capacity Jingu Stadium crowd cheering on the visitors, new Tigers players could be forgiven for thinking it was a home game.

"It may have been fun to watch, but it wasn't much fun to go through," said Swallows manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu, after his men salvaged one win from the series. "We didn't want to lose three to Hanshin, so this was a big win."

Petagine's blast also spoiled a sterling debut for Tigers starter Yuya Ando. The right-hander, who was signed by the Tigers as a free selection in last fall's draft, held the Swallows to a run on seven hits in six innings.

Kevin Hodges, starting for the Swallows on four days rest, allowed one run on five hits. The right-hander struck out eight, walked two and hit a batter.

Ando quickly established his credentials with a 142 kph fastball, a running fastball, and a nasty slider. The rookie also showed batters a big dropping curve, but the Swallows got three of their hits when he left his hook in the strike zone.

"Next time, when I throw a ball, I want to pay attention to actually throwing a ball," said Ando of some pitches that wound up in the zone and ended up as hits.

Ando struck out nine and walked one in six innings before leaving for a pinch hitter.

Ando got a chance to win when his teammates scored in the top of the seventh off Swallows reliever Hirotoshi Ishii, but the Tigers' middle relievers were not up to the task of silencing the Swallows.

Right-hander Takahito Kanazawa gave up a leadoff double to Chihiro Hamana in the bottom of the seventh and left the mound when left-handed pinch hitter Kota Soejima came to the plate.

Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino reacted, sending in side-arming lefty Shoji Toyama. But Soejima lined Toyama's first pitch to right to put runners on the corners and forcing the Tigers' infield to play in.

The dangerous tactic paid instant dividends as Mitsuru Manaka grounded to first while Hajime Miki, the pinch runner at third base, held his ground.

Shinya Miyamoto then ended a feeble at-bat with a sharp grounder to short that resulted in an out at home and left first base empty.

Toyama (0-1) then walked Inaba on four pitches outside to load the bases. The side-armer threw Ball 1 to Petagine before the Swallows cleanup hitter and last year's CL MVP ended a weekend of frustration by depositing the 1-0 pitch among the Tigers' fans behind the wall in left center.

The turnabout made a winner out of Ishii (1-0), who had been on the hook for a loss. Ryota Igarashi, the third Swallows reliever of the game, surrendered a leadoff homer to Shinjiro Hiyama in the eighth but escaped further damage.

Right-handed submariner Shingo Takatsu pitched the ninth and put the tying run on with a hit batsman and a walk but escaped unscathed to pick up his third save of the season.

The Tigers scored in the third when Norihiro Akahoshi worked a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored on Hiyama's single.

Mitsuru Manaka set up the Swallows' tying run with a one-out single and a stolen base. The Swallows leadoff hitter scored easily on Inaba's two-out double.

Makoto Imaoka restored the Tigers' lead in the seventh when he went the other way with an outside slider and hit it off the end of the bat into left, again scoring Akahoshi from second.

Akahoshi, last year's CL rookie of the year and stolen base champ, was in scoring position four times during the game.

Akinori Iwamura, who won the CL's Golden Glove at third base last season, kept the Swallows in the game as he fielded three hard smashes at third, twice with runners in scoring position.