For one night, it almost felt like old times for the Yomiuri Giants. Shinnosuke Abe and Hayato Sakamoto were hitting home runs and Tetsuya Utsumi was making sure the other team didn't.
Abe connected on a two-run shot, Sakamoto hit a solo blast and Utsumi kept things under control on the mound as the Kyojin beat the Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3-1 in a battle of intracity rivals on Friday night in front of a crowd of 45,181 at Tokyo Dome.
"I put some runners on base but was able to maintain a good rhythm and stay out of trouble," Utsumi said. "This has been my pitching style."