It started with a home run, and it ended with a home run.
Jusei Mannami (23) of the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese professional baseball team hit his 21st and 22nd home runs of the season. In the home game against Softbank Hawks held at Escon Field in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido on the 16th, 바카라 he led the team to victory with two home runs.
However, these two home runs are very unusual.
1st – Mannami, playing right field, hit a go-ahead home run in his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. He pushed the curve on the 8th pitch thrown by Sopkbank right-hander Shuta Ishikawa and flew it into the right stands. He hit a home run after hitting 4 fouls in 2B1S.
Nippon Ham, which led with Mannami’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning, allowed the score to be tied in the top of the fifth inning. With 2 outs and runners on second base, Softbank No. 9 Hikaru Kawase hit a 1-run double.
Nippon Ham attacks in the bottom of the 9th inning when the score is 1-1. With one out, No. 9 Ryota Isobata reached base with a bunt hit toward third base. Next, Mannami hit a walk-off two-run home run against opposing closer Roberto Osuna. He ended the game by pulling in a fastball to the inside of the first pitch at 153 km/h. Left side 2-run home run.
It was a walk-off home run that thrilled the 30,369 fans who filled the stands at Escon Field. 3 to 1.
It’s a historic home run. It is only the second time in Japanese professional baseball history and the first in the Pacific League that a leadoff home run and a walk-off home run were hit simultaneously in the same game. It has been 30 years since Chunichi Dragons’ foreign hitter Alojo Powell scored against Yakult Swallows on October 13, 1993.
Manami is the first to score all of the team’s points with only a leadoff home run and a walk-off home run in the first inning.
He is producing his best season in his fifth year with the team. He had a batting average of .206, 127 hits in 477 at-bats, 22 home runs, and 68 RBIs in 126 games through the 16th. Hits, home runs, and RBI are all career highs.
He ranks third in home runs in the Pacific League after Chiba Lotte Marines’ Gregory Polanco (24) and Rakuten Eagles’ Hideto Asamura (23). It is worth aiming for the home run title in his remaining 15 games. Last season
He hit 14 home runs in 100 games.
Nippon Ham is likely to be in last place for the second year in a row, but they got 23-year-old slugger Manami.