Yokohama birthday blast

Shugo Maki marked his 28th birthday by homering in the third inning as Yokohama DeNA built a multi-run lead against Hanshin in a high-scoring game. (npb.jp) Maki, born on April 21, 1998, is DeNA’s captain and entered the 2026 season as one of the club’s central bats after posting 115 career home runs through April. (npb.jp) The later surge came from Atsushi Katsumata, a 25-year-old outfielder in his eighth year with the organization, whose timely hits helped push DeNA to a 9-6 advantage by the seventh inning. (npb.jp) Katsumata had only eight top-team games on his Nippon Professional Baseball record entering mid-April, which made his run-producing swings stand out in a lineup built around veterans such as Maki, Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh and Toshiro Miyazaki. (npb.jp) (baystars.co.jp) The matchup carried extra weight because Hanshin and DeNA have been direct Central League rivals, and DeNA came into 2026 as the reigning Japan Series champion after winning the 2024 title. (japanball.com) (npb.jp) For DeNA, the game also fit an early-season pattern of leaning on middle-of-the-order power while mixing in contributions from younger or less-established players. Maki opened 2026 batting.316 through 16 games, and Katsumata’s official page listed 10 hits and five runs batted in in his early appearances. (npb.jp) (baystars.co.jp) The clips that spread afterward were not limited to the scoring. One video showed the on-field birthday homer, another captured Katsumata’s key hit, and a third showed a bullpen-door mishap during the celebrations that turned the game into a social-media talking point as well as a divisional result. (x.com 1) (x.com 2) (x.com 3) By the end, the night had both parts of a baseball highlight reel: DeNA got the runs it needed from Maki and Katsumata, and the celebration produced the clip people kept replaying after the score moved on. (x.com 1) (x.com 2) (x.com 3)