Tomoya’s fifth homer
SoftBank Hawks’ Tomoya Yamakawa hit his fifth home run of the season off a high curveball in the game against the Rakuten Eagles, a stat line noted in Japanese‑league social coverage (x.com). The home run was singled out as part of early‑season power totals for the Hawks (x.com).
Tomoya Yamakawa hit his fifth home run of 2026 against the Rakuten Eagles, adding another early power marker for the SoftBank Hawks. (npb.jp) Nippon Professional Baseball lists Yamakawa with four home runs through April 15 and five through April 16, showing the homer came in this two-day window. His 2026 line moved to 16 games, 54 at-bats, 14 hits, four home runs, 10 runs batted in through April 15, then 16 games, 54 at-bats, 14 hits, four home runs, 10 runs batted in became 16 games, 54 at-bats, 14 hits, four home runs, 10 runs batted in on the Japanese page updated April 15 and 14 games, 49 at-bats, 13 hits, four home runs, nine runs batted in on the English page updated April 12, with the later April 15 Japanese update the more current official record before the fifth homer. (npb.jp) The Hawks were in the middle of a Pacific League series with Rakuten at Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka on April 15 and April 16. Official NPB records show SoftBank lost 3-2 on April 15 in front of 38,057 fans, with no Hawks home run recorded that night. (npb.jp) That places Yamakawa’s fifth homer in the April 16 game, the next date on the NPB regular-season schedule. The play was flagged in league social coverage as a drive off a high curveball, a detail that fits Yamakawa’s reputation as a pull-side power hitter who can punish mistakes left up in the zone. (npb.jp) (softbankhawks.co.jp) The swing matters for SoftBank because Yamakawa has been the club’s main home-run source in the season’s first three weeks. On the Hawks’ team batting page, he had four home runs in 11 games as of April 8, ahead of Kensuke Kondoh with three and Ryoya Kurihara with two. (npb.jp) SoftBank also opened the season in first place in the Pacific League. NPB’s standings published April 14 showed the Hawks at 10-5, 1.5 games ahead of Rakuten, after winning the Pacific League pennant in both 2024 and 2025. (npb.jp 1) (npb.jp 2) Yamakawa is not a new power bat finding his stroke. He entered 2026 with 275 career home runs in Nippon Professional Baseball, including 34 for SoftBank in 2024 and 23 in 2025 after hitting 47, 43 and 41 in his peak Seibu seasons. (npb.jp) At 34, Yamakawa remains one of the central middle-of-the-order bats in Japan’s Pacific League, and his own player profile lists “50 home runs” as his goal for 2026. His fifth homer does not put him on that pace yet, but it keeps SoftBank’s early offense tied to the player the club signed to supply long balls. (softbankhawks.co.jp)
