2011 NPB All-Star Game

The 2011 NPB All-Star Games featured three contests. The Pacific League won twice while the Central League won once.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 22 at Nagoya Dome with an attendance of 38,008. PL's offense was fine in the first three innings. Munenori Kawasaki hit a leadoff single to open the game and advanced to third with Yuichi Honda's infield single. Although Atsunori Inaba grounded into a double play, he still drove in the first run off CL starter Hitoki Iwase. Iwase was a reliever in the regular season, so he only pitched a inning in his home field then Shintaro Ejiri relieved him. The PL's Nobuhiro Matsuda collected a leadoff double in the next inning, and he soon scored with Yoshio Itoi's clutch hit. Inaba then extended the PL's lead to 3 runs with a solo shot off Daiki Enokida in the 3rd inning.

Hayato Terahara pitched 3 shutout innings for the PL, but the CL then destroyed their first reliever, Masaru Takeda. Shuichi Murata reached with a infield hit, then he scored as Wladimir Balentien hit a RBI double. Takeda retired Hisayoshi Chono, and he was still on the mound in the 5th inning. That was a disastrous decision for PL skipper Koji Akiyama. Takeda retired Hirokazu Ibata first, but he then allowed a single to Ryoji Aikawa, and Masahiro Araki blasted a two-run shot. Matt Murton and Nori Aoki both had hits, then Kazuhiro Hatakeyama crushed another homer. Takeda's ordeal didn't end as Murata hit another infield single, then Balentien and Chono recorded back-to-back homers. Takeda set the All-Star record for most runs, homers in a game, and became the only pitcher to allow a hit in eight straight at-bats. Yuki Saito replaced Takeda, and Aikawa hit another double in the same inning. Araki set the All-Star record for collecting the 10th hit of the inning for the CL, and Saito finally retired Murton to end this long inning. The PL had another score when Itoi and Tomotaka Sakaguchi had back-to-back doubles, but the CL still won the opener with a 9-4 score.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	11	1
Central	0	0	0	1	8	0	0	0	x	9	15	0

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Munenori Kawasaki, SS (Softbank Hawks)
2. Yuichi Honda, 2B (Seibu Lions)
3. Atsunori Inaba, DH (Softbank)
4. Hiroki Kokubo, 1B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
5. Nobuhiro Matsuda, 3B (Softbank)
6. Sho Nakata, LF (Nippon Ham)
7. Yoshio Itoi, CF (Nippon Ham)
8. Tomotaka Sakaguchi, RF (Orix Buffaloes)
9. Ginjiro Sumitani, C (Seibu)

• Hayato Terahara, P (Orix)

Backups Used

• Hiroyuki Nakajima, SS (Seibu)
• Tadahito Iguchi, 2B (Chiba Lotte Marines)
• Seiichi Uchikawa, PH (Softbank)
• Takeya Nakamura, 3B (Seibu)
• Motohiro Shima, C (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
• Takeshi Yamasaki, DH (Rakuten)
• Takahiro Okada, 1B (Orix)
• Masaru Takeda, P (Nippon Ham)
• Yuki Saito, P (Nippon Ham)
• Masahiko Morifuku, P (Softbank)
• Mamoru Kishida, P (Orix)

Manager

• Koji Akiyama

Coaches

• Hisanobu Watanabe
• Norifumi Nishimura

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Matt Murton, LF (Hanshin Tigers)
2. Nori Aoki, CF (Yakult Swallows)
3. Kazuhiro Hatakeyama 1B (Yakult)
4. Shuichi Murata 3B (Yomiuri)
5. Wladimir Balentien, DH (Yakult)
6. Hisayoshi Chono, 2B (Yomiuri Giants)
7. Hirokazu Ibata, RF (Chunichi Dragons)
8. Ryoji Aikawa C (Yakult)
9. Masahiro Araki, SS (Chunichi)

• Hitoki Iwase, P (Chunichi)

Backups Used

• Yoshiyuki Ishihara, C (Hiroshima Carp)
• Shinnosuke Abe, PH (Yomiuri)
• Keiichi Hirano, CF (Hanshin)
• Shinya Miyamoto, 3B (Yakult)
• Hayato Sakamoto, SS (Yomiuri)
• Naoto Watanabe, 2B (Yokohama BayStars)
• Kenta Kurihara, 1B (Hiroshima)
• Alex Ramirez, PH (Yomiuri)
• Shintaro Ejiri, P (Yokohama)
• Daiki Enokida, P (Hanshin)
• Yuya Kubo, P (Yomiuri)
• Shun Yamaguchi, P (Yokohama)
• Dennis Sarfate, P (Hiroshima)
• Chang-yong Lim, P (Yakult)
• Takuya Asao, P (Chunichi)
• Kyuji Fujikawa, P (Hanshin)

Manager

• Hiromitsu Ochiai

Coaches

• Tatsunori Hara
• Akinobu Mayumi

Umpires

• Hideshi Honda, Atsushi Kitaka, Masanobu Sasaki, Kota Kawaguchi, Takayasu Sakaemura, Takanori Yamamoto

Game 2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Central	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3	12	0
Pacific	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	x	4	8	0

Game 2 was held on July 23 at Zozo Marine Stadium with an attendance of 27,311. The PL scored first again when Nakajima hit a leadoff single and Nakamura crushed a solo shot off the CL's starter, Shohei Tateyama. They roared back when Chono and Miyamoto both singled in the 2nd inning, Yuki Karakawa walked Hirano, but Sakamoto was retired. Nakamura blasted his second homer in the 4th inning, and won the game MVP. Sakamoto soon answered with a solo shot in the 4th inning, and the CL made it a one-run game when last game's hero Hatakeyama recorded a RBI single after Murata's double in the 5th inning. The PL had a clutch insurance run in the 7th inning when Itoi drew a walk and Uchikawa added a RBI double. Closer Hisashi Takeda pitched the 9th inning for the PL, but Ibata soon reached with a infield single. Sakamoto drove in Ibata with a single, and Balentien hit a double. Cl needed just a single to take the lead, but Watanabe flew out and the PL tied the series.

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Nakajima, SS
2. Iguchi, 2B
3. Kokubo, 1B
4. Nakamura, 3B
5. Yamazaki, DH
6. Nakata, LF
7. Itoi, CF
8. Sakaguchi, RF
9. Tomoya Satozaki, C (Chiba Lotte)

• Yuki Karakawa, P (Chiba Lotte)

Backups Used

• Kawasaki, SS
• Honda, 2B
• Okada, 1B
• Mtsuda, 3B
• Inaba, DH
• Uchikawa, PH
• Shima, C
• Toshiya Sugiuchi, P (Softbank)
• Kazuhisa Makita, P (Seibu)
• Hirotoshi Masui, P (Nippon Ham)
• Yoshihisa Hirano, P (Orix)
• Hisashi Takeda, P (Nippon Ham)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Sakamoto, SS
2. Aoki, CF
3. Murton, LF
4. Abe, C
5. Murata, DH
6. Hatakeyama, 1B
7. Chono, RF
8. Miyamoto, 3B
9. Hirano, 2B

• Shohei Tateyama, P (Yakult)

Backups Used

• Ramirez, DH
• Balentien, RF
• Watanabe, 2B
• Araki, PR
• Kurihara, 1B
• Ibata, 3B
• Aikawa, C
• Enokida, P
• Kazuki Yoshimi, P (Chunichi)
• Hirokazu Sawamura, P (Yomiuri)
• Kubo, P

Umpires

• Kawaguchi, Yamamoto, Sakaemura, Sasaki, Kitaka, Honda

Game 3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Central	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
Pacific	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	x	5	11	0

Game 3 was held on July 24 at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi with an attendance of 21,347. This game was held in Tohoku in order to memorize victims of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. The PL scored in the first inning for the third straight game when Inaba blasted a two-run homer off CL starter Yoshinori Sato after Honda hit an infield single. The CL also had a good chance to tie the game when Sakamoto, Ishihara and Watanabe had singles in three consecutive at-bats. When the bases were loaded, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles aceMasahiro Tanaka forced Aoki to ground into a double play to escape the jam. Inaba drove in another run with a single after Kawasaki's leadoff single in the third inning, and Okada extended PL's lead to four runs with a homer off Bryan Bullington. Okada hit a double in his next at-bat, and PL made it 5-0 with Nakada and Uchikawa's back-to-back singles. The PL's pitchers completed a shutout with six strikeouts, and they took their second win.

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kawasaki, SS
2. Honda, 2B
3. Inaba, 1B
4. Yamazaki, DH
5. Mtsuda, 3B
6. Okada, RF
7. Nakata, LF
8. Itoi, CF
9. Shima, C

• Masahiro Tanaka, P (Rakuten)

Backups Used

• Kokubo, PH
• Nakajima, SS
• Iguchi, 2B
• Nakamura, 3B
• Sakaguchi, CF
• Uchikawa, PH
• Yu Darvish, P (Nippon Ham)
• Tsuyoshi Wada, P (Softbank)
• Tadashi Settsu, P (Softbank)
• Saito, P
• Morifuku, P
• Masui, P
• Kishida, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Aoki, CF
2. Miyamoto, 3B
3. Murton, DG
4. Hatakeyama, LF
5. Kurihara, 1B
6. Balentien, RF
7. Sakamoto, SS
8. Ishihara, C
9. Watanabe, 2B

• Yoshinori Sato, P (Yakult)

Backups Used

• Araki, SS
• Hirano, 2B
• Ramirez, DH
• Chono, RF
• Murata, 3B
• Ibata, 3B
• Abe, C
• Yamaguchi, P
• Bryan Bullington, P (Hiroshima)
• Tetsuya Utsumi, P (Yomiuri)
• Ejiri, P

Umpires

• Yamamoto, Sakaemura, Kitaka, Honda, Sasaki, Kawaguchi

Primary Source: NPB.com