After being swept in consecutive series by sub-.500 teams, the start-studded Yomiuri Giants found themselves in the midst of an unlikely six-game losing streak. Even more unlikely was that it took a rookie pitcher and a .154 hitter to snap them out of it.

News photoGiants slugger Michihiro "Guts" Ogasawara goes yard for a two-run homer in the third inning against the Hiroshima Carp at Tokyo Dome on Friday night. With the 3-0 win, Yomiuri snapped a six-game losing skid. KYODO PHOTO

Center fielder Yoshiyuki Kamei, who entered the game batting .154 with just two RBIs, homered in his first at-bat of the night to lead the Giants to a 3-0 victory over the Hiroshima Carp Friday at Tokyo Dome to the delight of the 40,186 mostly Giants fans in attendance.

Kamei's shot to center in the second and Michihiro Ogasawara's two-run blast in the third proved to be all the run support starter Norihito Kaneto (7-3) needed to give the Giants their first win since July 4 and first victory at Tokyo Dome since June 20.

"We owed it to our fans to put an end to the losing streak," Ogasawara said. "And with their support we'll make it two wins in a row tomorrow."

Kaneto pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings to pick up his third win in his last seven starts. The rookie kept the Carp off the board despite giving up eight hits while striking out four.

Kiyoshi Toyoda faced one batter in the seventh and pitched the eighth before Koji Uehara worked a perfect ninth for his 13th save of the year.

"I was a little nervous before the game because I felt pressure to end the losing streak," said Kaneto who started a 5-4 loss to Tokyo Yakult on July 6 that began the skid. "But I was able to get a rhythm."

Hiroshima starter Kan Otake (4-7) gave up all three runs on six hits over four innings to take the loss. The Carp could not muster any run support to back Otake, twice stranding runners on third including once with the bases loaded.

Center fielder Alex Ochoa was the lone bright spot for Hiroshima, going 2-for-3 with a walk in four plate appearances.

Despite the win, the Giants are still a disappointing 3-7 in July and have four wins in their last 14 games. Adding to the situation is the uncertain status of Korean slugger Lee Seung Yeop who was deactivated Thursday with an injured thumb. Lee was batting .254 with 15 home runs and 42 RBIs at the time. But for the moment the Giants are just happy to have ended the losing streak.

"It feels real good to get this win," Yomiuri right fielder Damon Hollins said.

The Giants also played without star outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi, sidelined with an ankle injury. The injury is not serious and Takahashi could be back in the lineup as early as Saturday.

Kamei, playing in only his 17th game this season, got the Giants on the board early by sending Otake's 1-0 pitch deep to center for his first home run of the season in the second.

"It's amazing," Hollins said. "He's a great kid."

Yomiuri struck again in the next inning after Yoshitomo Tani's leadoff single up the middle. Ogasawara's two-run shot, his 20th homer of the year, gave the Giants a 3-0 advantage.

BayStars win in 10th

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Toshihisa Nishi drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Yokohama a "sayonara" win over Tokyo Yakult, earning a 1-0 triumph on Friday.

Nishi hit a two-out single through the hole between third base and shortstop to end a pitcher's duel between Daisuke Miura (7-7) and Shohei Tateyama (3-5) as the BayStars had a walkoff win for the second straight night.

Miura pitched his second complete-game shutout in as many starts, holding the Swallows to two hits while striking out eight and walking three.

Tateyama was equally impressive, allowing six hits with five strikeouts and two walks over the distance.

In the bottom of the 10th, Katsuaki Furuki drew a leadoff walk and pinch-runner Shingo Nonaka moved to second on a one-out grounder to first by Takanori Suzuki before beating the throw from left fielder Alex Ramirez on Nishi's hit.

Dragons at Tigers — ppd.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Fighters 6, Eagles 2

At Sendai's Fullcast Stadium, Atsunori Inaba hit a go-ahead two-run homer and Yu Darvish threw five effective innings as Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters beat Tohoku Rakuten for its third straight win.

Inaba's shot over the center-field wall put the Pacific League-leading Fighters ahead 2-1 in the third inning before Kensuke Tanaka added an RBI double in the fifth.

Darvish (8-4) gave up consecutive two-out doubles to Koichi Isobe and Jose Fernandez in the first, but held Rakuten scoreless in the next four innings.

Darvish allowed one run and six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Takeshi Yamasaki hit his Japanese baseball-leading 30th home run of the season to pull Rakuten within a run in the sixth, but Nippon Ham extended its lead to four runs in the seventh on a two-run single by Eiichi Koyano and an RBI single from Takahito Kudo.

Eagles starter Adam Bass (0-1) was charged with three runs in five innings in his Japanese baseball debut.

Hawks 6, Marines 5

At Chiba Marine Stadium, Nobuhiko Matsunaka capped a string of four straight two-out hits in the top of the ninth inning with a go-ahead double as Fukuoka Softbank rallied to beat Chiba Lotte.

Naoyuki Omura and Munenori Kawasaki had back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with two outs, and Hitoshi Tamura followed with a game-tying single to center off closer Masahide Kobayashi (2-3), who also gave up a double to the next batter Matsunaka.

Akio Mizuta (5-2) won in relief despite allowing a two-run double to Benny Agbayani in the eighth.

Takahiro Mahara retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth for his league-leading 25th save.

Matsunaka and Hiroki Kokubo each hit a solo homer earlier in the game.

Lotte has lost three in a row.

Lions 5, Buffaloes 2

At Kyocera Dome, Takahiko "G.G." Sato opened the scoring with a two-run double in the third inning and Hiroyuki Nakajima went 3-for-5 with an RBI, leading Seibu over Orix.

Akira Miyakoshi (1-0) allowed one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings in his first start of the season for Seibu. Alex Graman closed out the ninth to earn his fourth save.

Yoshihisa Hirano (5-7) gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.