Cycle for Maru, Hat Trick for Yamaguchi!

959

One of the most eventful weeks in Nippon Professional Baseball this season is in the books, featuring Yoshihiro Maru’s cycle, Koki Yamaguchi’s three-homer game, Kazuma Okamoto’s triumphant return, Tatsuya Imai’s shutout, and the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ pivotal sweep of the SoftBank Hawks.

Also, offense is way up since the All-Star break, as the balls have been flying out of the park at a much higher rate. Is the dead ball era finally coming to a close?

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Tuesday (August 19)

• Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) became the first NPB player since Yasutaka Shiomi in 2021 to hit for the cycle in a 15-2 thrashing of the Swallows.
• Yuki Nomura (Fighters) hit a walk-off three-run double to defeat the Buffaloes, 6-5.
• Elehuris Montero (Carp) hit a two-run shot in the ninth to top the BayStars, 3-1.

Wednesday (August 20)

• Naoyuki Uwasawa (Hawks) struck out 12 batters over seven innings in a 5-4 win against the Lions.
• Franmil Reyes (Fighters) hit two home runs in a 6-5 victory versus the Buffaloes.
• Sandro Fabian (Carp) went 5 for 5 with a homer in a 7-4 loss to the BayStars.

Thursday (August 21)

• Koki Yamaguchi (Marines) hit three home runs, including two in one inning, in a 12-10 slugfest versus the Eagles. It was also his third straight game with a homer, and his fourth consecutive at-bat going deep.
• Masahiro Tanaka (Giants) won his 199th game between MLB and NPB.
• Yuhei Nakamura (Swallows) picked up his 1,000th career hit.
• The Buffaloes smashed four homers in a 10-0 blowout of the Fighters.

Friday (August 22)

• Kona Takahashi (Lions) tossed eight scoreless frames in a 3-0 win against the Marines.
• Haruto Takahashi (Tigers) fanned 11 batters over six innings of one-run ball against the Swallows.
• Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) hit his first homer since returning from injury.

Saturday (August 23)

• Tatsuya Imai (Lions) spun a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts versus the Marines.
• Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) hit two home runs in a 4-1 win over the BayStars.
• Franmil Reyes (Fighters) hit two home runs in an 8-3 win over the Hawks.

Sunday (August 24)

• Teruaki Sato (Tigers) hit his 32nd homer in an 8-1 win against the Swallows.
• Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) hit his 10th homer, doing so in just 25 games.
• Richard Sunagawa (Giants) hit a 479 ft homer off the billboard at Tokyo Dome.
• The Fighters walked off the Hawks to complete the sweep, cutting the PL pennant gap to just half a game.

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• NPB Standings
• Central League Hitting Leaders
• Central League Pitching Leaders
• Pacific League Hitting Leaders
• Pacific League Pitching Leaders
• Yakyu Cosmopolitan’s Website