It's still very early in the season, but so far everything has come up red for the Hiroshima Carp.

Shota Dobayashi gave the Carp some breathing room with a two-run pinch-hit home run in the top of the ninth inning to help prop up starting pitcher Yusuke Nomura in a 4-1 victory on Tuesday over the Yomiuri Giants in front of a crowd of 42,497 on the 26th anniversary of the first regular-season game at Tokyo Dome.

"I made an error in my last game and we lost, so I wanted to do something to contribute," Dobayashi said, referring to a miscue in the fourth inning that helped the Yokohama BayStars put together a six-run inning in a game they won 9-6 on Saturday.