◆パ・リーグ　西武２―１１日本ハム（２３日・ベルーナドーム）

Nippon-Ham 's Manami hit a bullet fly ball with a batted ball speed of 180 km/h that reached the left field stands in an instant. In the 6th inning with no outs and a runner on first, with the score 7-1, he connected with Ueda's curveball for his 18th home run, a two-run shot. He became the 315th player in history, and the first for the team since Laird in 2017, to reach 100 career home runs, and said, "I'm honestly happy because I've been wanting to hit one for a while." His first professional home run was on June 13, 2021, against DeNA (Sapporo Dome). Achieving this at the age of 26 years and 3 months in his 8th year as a professional, he surpassed Yukio Tanaka in 1994 to become the fourth youngest player in team history to reach this milestone, flashing a bright smile.

He drew strength from the FIFA World Cup. Number 66, who is also fully committed to his hobbies, spent his free time before the tournament began watching countless commentary videos on YouTube to prepare, saying he wanted to "enjoy it to the fullest." His post-Home Run celebration was an imitation of his favorite Brazilian ace striker, Vinícius Júnior. He even woke up at 4 a.m. on the 20th to watch the final match (Spain vs. Argentina), showing how he was inspired by the world's top level of play.

He has batted fourth in 20 consecutive games since the game Seibu Lions on June 28th (at Belluna Dome), and is in excellent form in July with a batting average of .380. "I want to hit 200, 300 home runs." The legend of the northern slugger is just beginning. (Haruki Kawakami)