Murakami caps Triple Crown season with 56th home run

Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami became the rst player in 18 years to win a batting Triple Crown in Japan pro baseball, and he capped it in dramatic fashion by breaking one of Japan’s most cherished records in his nal at-bat of his nal game of the regular season.

Murakami belted his 56th home run during the Swallows’ 8-2 victory over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium. is beat the record held by Yomiuri Giants legend Sadaharu Oh for most by a Japanese-born player, which had stood since 1964.

e 22-year-old Murakami went 2-for-4 to nish the season with a Central League-leading .318 average, and his two RBIs gave him a CL-high 134.

at made him the youngest player ever to win a Triple Crown, the eighth overall, and the rst to do it since Nobuhiko Matsunaka of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2004. In total, it has been accomplished 12 times.

Since tying Oh at 55 home runs on Sept. 13, Murakami had gone 13 games without homering. But in his fourth and nal at-bat in the seventh inning Monday, the le -handed-hitting Murakami blasted a pitch from reliever Taisei Irie well over the right eld fence.

e Japan pro baseball record for most homers in a season is 60, set by the Swallows’ Wladimir Balentien in 2013. (Published on Oct. 5 in print)

The Yomiuri Shimbun Spectators cheer for Munetaka Murakami after he hit his 56th homer of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo.