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11/12/2004 8:28 AM ET
Japan rallies for third win in a row
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By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com |
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| Johnny Estrada is congratulated for a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. (AP/Kyodo News)
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NOGOYA, Japan -- The fatigue of playing four games in four cities on successive nights finally caught up with the Major Leaguers, who hadn't hit much since the first half of the eight-game series.
For the third straight day, both teams competing in the Japan All-Star Series woke up at one end of the country and traveled to another, arriving just in time for lunch and a late trip to the ballpark.
"How are we holding up? Not too good," said MLB catcher Johnny Estrada, whose team allowed the Japanese to come from behind with a single run in the eighth and two more in the ninth to win Game 7, 3-2. The series will be decided on Sunday in the finale at the Tokyo Dome.
"It's like the old minor-league days. You travel all night in a bus, arrive at the ballpark at 6 o'clock and then play at 6:30," Estrada said.
Estrada and pinch-hitter Marcus Giles had back-to-back sacrifice flies in the seventh inning to give MLB a 2-0 lead. But MLB wasted 5 2/3 innings of stellar relief from the Cardinals' Jason Marquis, who allowed a run on only three singles, while walking one and striking out four.
Akinori Otsuka, the former Japan League pitcher, gave up a run-scoring double to Akinori Iwamura and what the Japanese call a "sayonara" hit to pinch-hitter Michihiro Ogasawara, who drove in Iwamura with the game-winning single.
Fatigue? The Japanese had seven hits and MLB only five.
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