토스카지노‘Legends’ Ichiro Suzuki and Kenji Jojima summoned.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida (30) hit his 10th home run and recorded a multi-hit game in the final game of the first half. Yoshida, batting fifth and designated hitter, had two hits against the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park in Boston on Tuesday.

The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Leading off, Yoshida reacted to a 153-kilometre-per-hour fastball from opposing left-hander Ken Waldichuck. He drove the fastball up and away on a 1B2S pitch, sending it over the left field fence at Fenway Park. The ball hit 155.4 mph and travelled 107.6 metres. It was the game-winning home run in Boston’s 4-3 comeback victory and fifth straight win.

Yoshida’s first hit came in the bottom of the sixth inning. With the score 2-3 and one out, he lined an infield single to shortstop and stole second. He advanced to third on a bad throw by the opposing catcher and scored the tying run on the next batter’s single.

Yoshida turned the tide of the game and sealed the victory.

He went 2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI. It was his seventh consecutive game and 34th multi-hit game. This is the most consecutive multi-hit games by a Japanese hitter in the major leagues, a record that Ichiro “The Hit Maker” Ichiro has achieved five times. With one more multi-hit game, he will surpass Ichiro.

In 78 games in the first half, he hit .301 with 95 doubles, 10 home runs and 44 RBIs.

He is third in the American League in batting average and tied for ninth in RBIs behind the Tampa Bay Rays’ Yandy Diaz (3-for-2) and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Bo Vicchetti (3-for-7).

Yoshida’s Orix Buffaloes teammate, Ichiro, hit 3-for-5 in his debut major league season in 2001 and led the American League in RBI. Like Ichiro, Yoshida has a shot at the batting title in his first year. Ichiro won his second batting title with the Seattle Mariners in 2004 after hitting .370 in 2001.

Including Yoshida, there are now nine Japanese hitters who have hit double-digit home runs in their debut season in the majors. Yoshida is the second Japanese player to reach 10 home runs in the first half, joining Seattle’s Kenji Jojima in 2006.

“I didn’t know it was going to be a home run,” Yoshida said in his postgame interview, “I thought I was in a good flow and tried to steal. I’m just glad I made it out without any injuries.”

Yoshida ended the first half of the season on a high note.