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3-Homer Games for Tsutsugo, Murakami

by Yuri Karasawa
0c10
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and Munetaka Murakami each hit long balls on Friday night (Photo: Mainichi)

Yakult Swallows superstar Munetaka Murakami swatted three home runs to dead center on Friday night at Meiji Jingu Stadium. An hour later, former MLB slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo joined him with a hat trick at Yokohama Stadium. Both players were on a tear in August, as Murakami slashed .291/.342/.699 with 12 long balls in 27 games and Tsutsugo batted .355/.394/1.161 with eight dingers in just 11 games. These marked the second and third three-homer games of the 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball season, following Koki Yamaguchi’s display last week.

Now, let’s look into the rest of the action to close out the month!

Tuesday (August 26)

Ryo Ohta’s walk-off knock
  • Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) hit a come-from-behind two-run homer in the ninth inning against the BayStars.
  • Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) walked off the Marines in extras.
  • Yasuhiro Ogawa (Swallows) threw eight scoreless innings versus the Dragons.
  • Luke Voit (Eagles) hit a grand slam in a 10-3 win over the Hawks.
  • Takayuki Kishi (Eagles) became the 22nd pitcher in NPB history to make 400 career starts.

Wednesday (August 27)

Atsuki Taneichi’s nine punchouts
  • The Belluna Dome had a power outage in the ninth inning.
  • Yudai Ohno (Dragons) tossed seven shutout frames en route to a 3-0 win versus the Swallows.
  • Atsuki Taneichi (Marines) struck out nine batters in a 6-1 win against the Buffaloes.

Thursday (August 28)

DeNA-Hanshin Highlights
  • Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) hit his fourth homer in his past three games.
  • Teruaki Sato (Tigers) extended his NPB lead with his 33rd homer in a 5-4 loss to the BayStars.
  • The Carp scored five runs in the first two innings and stopped Masahiro Tanaka (Giants) from getting his 200th career win.

Friday (August 29)

Andre Jackson’s home run
  • Andre Jackson (BayStars) became the first pitcher to hit a home run this season in a 9-8 loss to the Dragons. The teams combined for six dingers in total.
  • Shota Morishita and Teruaki Sato (Tigers) hit back-to-back homers off Taisei in a 4-3 loss to the Giants.
  • Koki Kitayama (Fighters) threw seven shutout innings against the Eagles.

Saturday (August 30)

Munetaka Murakami’s hat trick
  • Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) hit three home runs in a 5-4 win over the Carp. It was his first hat trick since July 31, 2022, at Koshien Stadium (which famously started his record-setting streak of five consecutive plate appearances going deep).
  • Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) hit three home runs in a 9-7 loss in extras against the Dragons. It also marked his eighth homer in his last 28 at-bats.

Sunday (August 31)

Hanshin-Yomiuri Highlights
  • Shintaro Fujinami (BayStars) threw seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts against the Dragons.
  • Daisuke Nakashima (Eagles) hit an 11th-inning homer to edge the Fighters, 1-0.
  • Atsuki Tomosugi (Marines) hit his first career long ball in a 4-3 win over the Hawks.
  • The Tigers lowered their magic number to 7 with a 5-4 victory over the Giants.
  • The Buffaloes completed the sweep against the Lions, outscoring them 19-3 in the series.

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