Teruaki Sato blasts 3-run HR off Blake Snell, teammate imitates famous Kike Hernandez celly as Tigers prevail over Dodgers

Teruaki Sato's three-run home run off two-time Cy Young winner and newly-minted Dodger Blake Snell was all that the Hanshin Tigers needed to overcome Los Angeles in their exhibition match at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on Sunday afternoon.

Sato smashed the three-run shot in the top of the fourth inning to right field, pushing the score to 3-0. In an interesting side note, Shota Morishita had a particularly familiar celebration when he hit a double in the game.

"Hey that looks familiar" - @ Dodger Blue

After Sato uncorked the long shot for the Tigers, Morishita imitated a toned down version of Kike Hernandez's celebration that has been adopted by the likes of Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

The home run was the deciding factor for the Hanshin Tigers as they finished off the reigning World Series champions with a 3-0 score line. Hanshin's ace Hiroto Saiki was at his scintillating best as he gave up just a sole hit and walk in a five inning outing. In addition, he struck out seven Dodger batters in just 81 balls pitched.

The Tigers have now closed out their set of exhibition matches with a 2-0 win-loss card. It's even more impressive that they shut out both of the Cubs and Dodgers with the same 3-0 score line.

After finishing the 2024 NPB season as the second-seed from the Central League, the team is expected to mount another challenge for a postseason spot under the mentorship of new skipper and former MLB pitcher Kyuji Fujikawa.

As for Los Angeles, they finished their set of exhibition games with a 1-1 card after the loss to the Tigers.

MiSaMo takes center stage in Dodgers vs Tigers exhibition match

Before the game between the Dodgers and Tigers commenced, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by the Japanese subunit of K-pop super group TWICE known as MiSaMo.

Mina, Sana and Momo, the Japanese members of the K-pop group, captured the hearts of the fans at the Tokyo Dome. The trio has tremendous popularity in their homeland, proven by more than 350,000 copies sold of their two mini albums, Masterpiece and Haute Couture.

The unit has also embarked on a "dome tour" in Japan, which is only reserved for the country's most famous artists as these venues have a capacity of around 50,000 people. The trio completed the tour successfully, as they attracted 250,000 fans across six shows at the Belluna Dome, Kyocera Dome Osaka and the Tokyo Dome.