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Birthday boy Murton ties Ichiro's hits record in Japan
He has three games to break it.
Love me some Murton.
HIROSHIMA —
Matt Murton celebrated his 29th birthday by tying Ichiro for the most hits in a single season in Japanese baseball and his teammates contributed with three longballs in the Hanshin Tigers’ 7-2 win over the Hiroshima Carp on Sunday.
The victory moved the Tigers into second place ahead of the idle Yomiuri Giants in the Central League.
Murton grounded into a fielder’s choice once and flied out twice before hitting a single to left in the seventh inning to match Ichiro’s single-season mark of 210 hits set with the Orix BlueWave, when there were only 130 games played in 1994. The Tigers have three games left this season.
The former Colorado Rockies outfielder, who was playing in his 141st game of the year, flied out to center in the ninth.
Takashi Toritani hit a solo shot and Tomoaki Kanemoto and Kenji Johjima both had two-run drives. Takahiro Arai went 3-for-5 with an RBI double and two runs scored at Mazda Stadium.
Jason Standridge (11-5) pitched one-run ball over seven innings. Keisuke Imai (0-4) was roughed up for six runs in six innings.
In another CL game, at Jingu Stadium, Yoshinori Sato allowed one unearned run in six innings and Jamie D’Antona hit a two-run homer to help Yakult beat last-place Yokohama 3-1.
He has three games to break it.
Love me some Murton.