Hanshin Tigers slugger Teruaki Sato took the mystery out of the race for the Central League home run title long ago, but he still managed to produce one last burst of excitement.
Sato capped off the best regular season of his career by slugging his 40th home run in the Tigers’ final game of the year in front of a roaring crowd at Koshien Stadium on Thursday. He also finished the game — a 6-2 win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows — with three RBIs to take his total for the season to 102.
The 26-year-old ended the year as the runaway home run king in the CL, with teammate Shota Morishita a distant second with 23. Sato also beat Morishita for the RBI title, driving in 13 more runs than his teammate. He led all NPB batters in both categories. The Tigers star finished seventh in the CL with a .277 batting average.
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