Japan’s Munetaka Murakami gets into home run act, too

TOKYO (AP) — In a season of home run milestones in American baseball by Albert Pujols and Aaron Judge, 22-year-old Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami has also gotten into the act. Murakami plays for the Tokyo-based Yakult Swallows. He has hit his 56th home run of the season, pushing him alone into second place on the single-season list. The hit came in the seventh inning against the DeNA Bay Stars at the Swallows’ Jingu Stadium. It was the Swallows’ last regular-season game. Murakami passed Japan’s career home run leader Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera. They all hit 55 in a season. Wladimir Balentien holds Nippon Professional Baseball’s record of 60 home runs in a season