2014 NPB All-Star Game

The 2014 NPB All-Star Games were split between the Pacific League and Central League.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 18 at Seibu Dome with an attendance of 30,973. The starters of both sides pitched well, the PL's Takayuki Kishi retiring first three batters, then struck out Brad Eldred, Kila Ka'aihue and Wladimir Balentien respectively in the second inning. Kenta Maeda also pitched two perfect innings, and struck out Dai-Kang Yang and Yuya Hasegawa. Kishi was replaced by Yuki Nishi in the third inning, but he couldn't deal with the CL batters. After striking out Yuhei Takai, Shota Dobayashi and Motonobu Tanishige both singled, and Nishi gave up three straight RBI singles; the CL had a 3-run lead. Tanishige's hit made him the oldest player to have a hit in a NPB All-Star Game; at 43 years and 6 months, he was 2 months older than Hiromitsu Kadota had been in 1991. He joined Fumio Fujimura (1955) as the only player to get a NPB All-Star Game hit his first at-bat after becoming a player-manager.

The PL roared back soon as Kazuya Fujita hit a single in the bottom of the 3rd inning, and Maeda retired Motohiro Shima then SS Kenta Imamiya struck out. Leadoff hitter Yang collected an infield single, then Ginji Akaminai drew a walk. When the bases were loaded, Maeda forced Yoshio Itoi to fly out and escape the jam. The PL didn't gave up. Hasegawa hit a single in the next inning, and Fujita added an infield single. Yudai Ono walked Shima, but he still forced Imamiya to hit an infield fly, and PL didn't have any runs with the bases loaded for the second straight inning. The CL added a insurance run in the 5th inning. Ryosuke Kikuchi had a lucky infield hit with a soft grounder, then Takashi Toritani's double brought him home. Yoshihiro Maru collected a double against Michael Crotta in the 7th inning, and his red-hot teammate Eldred blasted a two-run homer to extend their lead to 6 runs. PL soon had a chance to add something on the scoreboard as Yang hit a leadoff double in the bottom. Akaminai drew a walk, but Itoi then grounded out. PH Wily Mo Pena was struck out by Tetsuya Yamaguchi, then he retired Obiki to continue the shutout. The CL added a run with Tony Blanco's RBI double, and Tomoya Mikami closed the door.

Eldred was the fourth player to have three hits and a homer in his NPB All-Star debut. Maeda joined Yutaka Enatsu and Masaichi Kaneda as the only CL pitchers with 3+ All-Star Game wins.

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

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yoshihiro Maru, CF (Hiroshima Carp)
2. Ryosuke Kikuchi, 2B (Hiroshima)
3. Takashi Toritani, SS (Hanshin Tigers)
4. Brad Eldred, LF (Hiroshima)
5. Kila Ka'aihue, 1B (Hiroshima)
6. Wladimir Balentien, DH (Yakult Swallows)
7. Yuhei Takai, RF (Yakult)
8. Shota Dobayashi, 3B (Hiroshima)
9. Motonobu Tanishige, C (Chunichi Dragons)

• Kenta Maeda, P (Hiroshima)

Backups Used

• Yohei Oshima, PH (Chunichi)
• Matt Murton, LF (Hanshin)
• Shinnosuke Abe, C (Yomiuri Giants)
• Yuhei Nakamura, C (Yakult)
• Tetsuto Yamada, 2B (Yakult)
• Hayato Sakamoto, SS (Yomiuri)
• Tony Blanco 1B (Yokohama BayStars)
• Yudai Ono, P (Chunichi)
• Shoichi Ino, P (Yokohama)
• Ryuji Ichioka, P (Hiroshima)
• Tetsuya Yamaguchi, P (Yomiuri)
• Tomoya Mikami, P (Yokohama)

Manager

• Tatsunori Hara

Coaches

• Yutaka Wada
• Kenjiro Nomura

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Dai-Kang Yang, CF (Nippon Ham Fighters)
2. Ginji Akaminai, 3B (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
3. Yoshio Itoi, RF (Orix Buffaloes)
4. Takeya Nakamura, DH (Seibu Lions)
5. Dae-ho Lee, 1B (Softbank Hawks)
6. Yuya Hasegawa, LF (Softbank)
7. Kazuya Fujita, 2B (Rakuten)
8. Motohiro Shima, C (Rakuten)
9. Kenta Imamiya, SS (Softbank)

• Takayuki Kishi, P (Seibu)

Backups Used

• Keiji Obiki, 3B (Nippon Ham)
• Yuki Yanagita, LF (Softbank)
• Shota Ono, C (Nippon Ham)
• Sho Nakata, PH (Nippon Ham)
• Wily Mo Peña, DH (Rakuten)
• Hideto Asamura, 2B (Seibu)
• Hikaru Ito, C (Orix)
• Daichi Suzuki, SS (Chiba Lotte Marines)
• Yuki Nishi, P (Orix)
• Hiroyuki Fukuyama, P (Rakuten)
• Michael Crotta, P (Nippon Ham)
• Tatsuya Sato, P (Orix)

Manager

• Tsutomu Ito

Coaches

• Norio Tanabe
• Hiromoto Okubo

Umpires

• Naoto Shikita, Masaharu Kasahara, Kazuyuki Shirai, Shinichiro Hara, Fumihiro Yoshimoto, Junichi Sato

Game 2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	4	0	0	1	1	3	3	0	0	12	18	0
Central	1	0	1	0	2	0	1	1	0	6	13	0

Game 2 was July 19 at Koshien Stadium in front of 45,361 fans. It was a duel between two young talented starters - Shohei Ohtani and Shintaro Fujinami. However, Fujinami was destroyed in the first inning. Yanagita singled first, Obiki's fly ball help him advance to second and Itoi's hit gave the PL the lead. Fujinami then walked Hasegawa, and Pena blasted a 3-run home run. Ohtani also struggled as he gave up three straight singles to Toritani, Balentien and Murton, and the CL got their first run. While facing Abe, Ohtani became the first Japanese pitcher to reach 162 km/h (100.7 mph). CL's Yamada homered in the third inning to make it a two-run game, but the PL also scored in the next inning when Imamiya's double against Tomoyuki Sugano sent Pena to third, and Suzuki got a sacrifice fly.

The game became a batting contest, as the PL's Yang hit a triple off Ichioka in the 5th inning, then Akaminai's double netted him a RBI. Hasegawa hit a clutch single as Akaminai scored, but Pena grounded into a double play to end this inning. The CL roared back soon when leadoff Toritani drew a walk from Ryota Igarashi, then Yamada and Murton both doubled and reduced the lead to 2 runs. No matter how many runs the CL scored, the PL always could retain their lead as Imamiya and Nakata both doubled, Yanagita then blasted a 2-run homer off Daisuke Yamai. CL relievers Yamai and Fukutani combined to allow 5 straight singles in the 7th inning, and the PL extended their lead to 6 runs. Sakamoto and Dobayashi both crushed a solo shot, but it didn't cut much into the PL lead as they tied the series with a 12-6 win.

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Yanagita, CF
2. Obiki, 3B
3. Itoi, RF
4. Lee, 1B
5. Hasegawa, LF
6. Pena, DH
7. Imamiya, SS
8. Itoh, C
9. Suzuki, 2B

• Shohei Ohtani, P (Nippon Ham)

Backups Used

• Yang, RF
• Akaminai, 1B
• Nakata, PH
• Nakamura, DH
• Ono, C
• Asamura, DH
• Shima, C
• Fujita, 2B
• Chihiro Kaneko, P (Orix)
• Takahiro Norimoto, P (Rakuten)
• Ryota Igarashi, P (Softbank)
• Dennis Sarfate, P (Softbank)
• Yoshihisa Hirano, P (Orix)
• Fukuyama, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Toritani, SS
2. Yamada, 2B
3. Balentien, DH
4. Murton, LF
5. Abe, C
6. Blanco, 1B
7. Takai, RF
8. Shuichi Murata, 3B (Yomiuri)
9. Maru, CF

• Shintaro Fujinami, P (Hanshin)

Backups Used

• Ka'aihue, PH
• Sakamoto, SS
• Eldred, DH
• Dobayashi, RF
• Nakamura, C
• Oshima, CF
• Kikuchi, 2B
• Tomoyuki Sugano, P (Yomiuri)
• Ichioka, P
• Daisuke Yamai, P (Chunichi)
• Koji Fukutani, P (Chunichi)
• Kam Mickolio, P (Hiroshima)

Umpires

• Hara, Shirai, Yoshimoto, Sato, Kasahara, Shikita

Primary Source: NPB.com