Yoshinobu Takahashi and Domingo Martinez both connected for two-run homers Tuesday as the Yomiuri Giants cruised to a 9-5 victory over the New York Mets for their second straight win against their major league counterparts.
The Cubs and Mets open the major league regular season with a pair of games on Wednesday and Thursday at the Tokyo Dome.
Takahashi, who also homered in the Giants 6-0 win over the Cubs on Monday, put the Giants up 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh with a liner off Mets reliever Bobby M. Jones that just cleared the wall in right field.
"I was very impressed with their players. People think that only Japanese pitchers are good enough to play in the majors, but I saw eight players out there tonight who are good enough to play in the major leagues," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine.
Pinch hitter Norio Tanabe doubled to left as two more runs crossed the plate to give the Giants a 9-2 lead before the Mets came back with three runs in the top of the ninth off reliever Hiromi Makihara.
Martinez, meanwhile, had put the Giants up 2-0 in the bottom of the second with a blast to left off New York starter Bill Pulsipher, who took the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits over three innings of work.
The Giants got solid pitching out of starter Darrell May, who picked up the win after holding the Mets to two runs on three hits over four innings, and South Korean right-hander Chong Min Chul, who came on in the fifth and tossed two scoreless innings.