Swallows’ Murakami slugs 55th home run to match Oh’s record

Munetaka Murakami of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows matched one of Nippon Professional Baseball’s most revered home run records on Tuesday night.

Murakami belted his 54th and 55th homers of the season to tie former Yomiuri legend Sadaharu Oh’s 1964 record for a Japanese-born player during Yakult’s 9-7 loss to the Giants at Jingu Stadium in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

At 22 years 7 months, the Swallows slugger set the record as the youngest player to hit at least that many homers in a season, topping Oh, who did it at 24 years 4 months.

Murakami, the h player to have as many as 55 homers in an NPB season, drove a pitch from Yomiuri starter Tomoyuki Sugano out of the park for a solo homer in the fourth inning. He then smacked a three-run shot o reliever Taisei Ota in the ninth inning to get the Swallows closer on the scoreboard.

Wladimir Balentien holds the single-season NPB record of 60 homers, which he hit in 2013 when he played for the Swallows.

Murakami has 15 games remaining in the regular season in which to either match or surpass Balentien’s record.

“e season isn’t over,” Murakami said a er the game. “I think I can hit more home runs.” (Sept. 15)

Noriaki Sasaki / The Yomiuri Shimbun The Swallows’ Munetaka Murakami celebrates after hitting his 55th home run at Jingu Stadium in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, on Tuesday.