Murakami Munetaka, the home run king of the Yakult Swallows in Japan, hit a homerun in two consecutive games. He had three hits in two consecutive games to rank No. 1 in batting average.
Murakami started as the fourth third baseman against Yokohama DeNA BayStars at Jingu Stadium in Japan on the 19th.
He came out as the leadoff hitter in the second inning and was out due to foul fly by the third baseman. He got on base with a hit to the right field with one out in the fourth inning, but failed to score a point due to failure of subsequent hit.
Leading hitter Osuna hit a tying solo home run in the sixth inning when his team was losing 2-3. Murakami got on base with an infield single to shortstop. He then had a chance to load the bases with two outs due to opponent team’s error and intentional four pitches, but his shot did not go off.
In the end, Murakami was the troubleshooter. As the first batter in the eighth inning, Murakami hit a fastball with a full swing at the center of the third pitch, which was high at two strikes, and the hit was a big hit that gave a sense of the homerun that crossed the right fence. He garnered his third homerun of this season as the final hit.
Murakami also hit a home run in the game against the Chunichi Dragons held at Banterindom in Nagoya City on Sunday. He hit a two-run homer to gain the upper hand with two outs and a runner on first base in the first inning. Murakami had three hits, two RBIs and two runs from five times at bat, 밤알바 spearheading Yakult’s landslide 11-5 victory.
Murakami struggled after the opening because he did not have a long hit. In the end, when he failed to record an RBI in the fourth batter’s box, he left the fourth batter’s box for the first time in five years and played as the second batter. He hit his first home run in 54 at-bats in the opening 13 games against Yokohama on the 14th.
Murakami returned to the fourth batter’s box when the homerun hit, and hit a homer in two consecutive games. As of Tuesday, Murakami had a batting average of 333 percent (19 hits in 57 times at bat) in 17 games to rank No. 1 in the Central League. Murakami has three homers, tying for third after his teammate Osuna (four homers).
Murakami became the youngest player to hit three home runs in 2022, and hit 56 home runs, setting a new record for the most home runs in a single season for a Japanese batter. He achieved the youngest “triple crown” with a batting average of 318 percent and 134 RBIs.