Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami blasted back-to-back two-run homers and went deep for the third straight game as the Central League-leading team hammered the Hiroshima Carp 9-2 on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old slugged his 28th home run of the season off Hiroshima pitcher Yasunori Kikuchi in the eighth inning, giving his team a 5-1 lead, before getting his 29th in the ninth, this time off Ryuya Matsumoto, again over the left-center-field fence at Mazda Stadium.
Yakult starter Juri Hara (6-3) threw six shutout innings allowing seven hits and a hit batsman, edging his opposite number Atsushi Endo (3-5) who threw the same number of innings, allowing two runs on five hits, before Murakami took center stage.
Tetsuto Yamada's solo shot and a sacrifice fly gave Yakult a two-run lead in the fourth and Taiki Hamada's RBI triple gave the Swallows their third run in the seventh. Shogo Sakakura got a run back with a solo shot for Hiroshima in the home half.
Kotaro Yamasaki's RBI double and Yamada's RBI single had given the Swallows a 7-1 lead before Murakami's second homer of the day. Kaito Kozono singled in a run in the last frame, but the result was beyond Hiroshima's reach by then.
The DeNA BayStars beat the Hanshin Tigers 4-2, while the Chunichi Dragons won 3-2 after 10 innings against the Yomiuri Giants.
The Orix Buffaloes won 6-1 over the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and the Seibu Lions won their five straight games beating the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 6-2 in the Pacific League.