Munetaka Murakami had gone 13 games without a home run before hitting the one that put him in the record books.
In a season of home run milestones in American baseball by and Aaron Judge, 22-year-old Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami has also gotten into the act. Murakami now holds the record for most home runs in a season by a Japanese-born player in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Murakami, playing for the Tokyo-based Yakult Swallows, hit his 56th home run of the season on Monday, pushing him alone into second place on the single-season list. It was the Swallows’ last regular-season game.
The hit came in the seventh inning against the DeNA Bay Stars at the Swallows’ Jingu Stadium.
