Samurai Japan’s 4th hitter Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows), who hit 56 home runs last year and set a new record for most Japanese hitters in a single season and became the Central League MVP, showed off his pride in a practice game against the Softbank Hawks. Crumpled properly.
On the 26th, Murakami started as a 3rd baseman on the 4th in a practice game held at San Marin Stadium in Miyazaki, Japan. Murakami, who entered the first at-bat with two outs and first base in the first inning, retreated with a ground ball to first base.
In the beginning of the 2nd inning, he poured cold water on the defense with a bad throw. In a crisis situation with 2nd out and 3rd base, after catching Aiya Nishikawa’s batted ball, he pitched badly to 1st base, contributing 1 point.
Is it because the desire to make up for the disappointment in defense is too much? In the 3rd inning, he dropped his head with a floating ball to 1st base in a chance for 1st and 2nd base. In the 5th inning, he walked to 1st base with 1 out and 1st and 2nd base on a walk, but failed to add a hit with a fly to center field in the 7th inning.
Yamamoto Yoshinobu (Orix Buffaloes), starting pitcher for Samurai Japan, recorded 2 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts and 2 runs (1 earned) in 3 innings. He was shot with a speed gun up to a maximum speed of 153 km.
Yamamoto induced Taisei Makihara with a fly ball to left field in the first inning, then gave up a walk to Akira Nakamura. Soon after, he defeated Ryoya Kurihara and Yuki Yanagita with consecutive strikeouts.
In the second inning, leading hitter Willians Astudillo was grounded to third base, and Yamamoto scored consecutive doubles from Masaki Tomoya and Freddy Galvis and gave up one run. He got the second out count by inducing Hiroki Minei to ground on second base. In the meantime, second base runner Galvis landed on third base. 안전놀이터
Third baseman Murakami Munetaka, who caught Masaki Mimori’s batted ball, threw a bad throw to first base, and Galvis, a runner on third base, stepped home. Yamamoto finished the inning by handling Taisei Makihara’s batted ball himself.
Yamamoto completed his first three-way inning by tying up three batters: Akira Nakamura (grounder to second base), Ryoya Kurihara (strikeout), and Yuki Yanagita (grounder to second base) in the third inning. Yamamoto was substituted in the fourth inning, trailing 0-2.
Meanwhile, SAMURAI JAPAN won 4-2 with Sosuke Genda’s timely hit and Seiya Matsubara’s sacrifice fly in the 9th inning, where they faced 2-2.