Tyler Austin, whose career has been plagued with injuries for the past two-plus seasons, showed what kind of damage he can do when healthy in the DeNA BayStars' 5-3 win Thursday over the Yakult Swallows.
Austin, who has already missed more than a month this year with a hamstring strain, had his best game since returning to duty last Friday with three hits, a home run and three RBIs against the Central League-rival Swallows.
He followed his first-inning flare RBI single with a tremendous blast deep into the left-field stands at Tokyo's historic Jingu Stadium before doubling in a run in the fifth that made it 4-0 DeNA.
Austin was a big part of DeNA's offense in 2020 and 2021, when he also contributed to the United States securing the baseball silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
DeNA's Kenta Ishida (2-2) allowed two runs over seven innings to earn the win, the runs scoring on solo homers by Munetaka Murakami and Domingo Santana.
