Baseball: Munetaka Murakami hits 1st homer of season, Yakult wins 7th straight
Murakami's opposite-field blast to left off Katsuki Azuma (10-5) started a three-run second inning in the Swallows' 5-1 victory over the DeNA BayStars at Yokohama Stadium.
The 25-year-old slugger was playing in his only second game of the season after an upper body injury kept him sidelined for about three and a half months.
Jose Osuna added a solo home run for Yakult in the sixth while Peter Lambert (3-7) threw six innings of one-run ball for the win.
Among the day's other games, Hotaka Yamakawa hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fourth as the SoftBank Hawks rose to the top of the Pacific League standings with a 5-2 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters.
The Hawks have won nine and tied one of their last 10 games.
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