2015 NPB All-Star Game

There were two 2015 NPB All-Star Games

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 17 at Tokyo Dome with an attendance of 45,012. The CL won a slugfest. They got the first run; in the second, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo doubled off Shohei Otani (Tsutsugo becoming the first player to hit cleanup in their first All-Star Game and get a hit the first time up) and came home on a single by Jose Lopez. In the top of the third, the PL got their big inning. Katsuya Kakunaka and Kenta Imamiya opened with back-to-back doubles off Tomoyuki Sugano to tie it. With one out, Sugano walked Shogo Akiyama. Ikuhiro Kiyota then smacked a three-run bomb to left for a 4-1 lead.

The CL pecked away at the PL lead, starting in the bottom of the third. Yuhei Nakamura, Takayuki Kajitani and Takashi Toritani all singled off Yuki Nishi. Nishi fanned Tetsuto Yamada then Tsutsugo hit a sacrifice fly to cut it to 4-2. In the fifth, Nakamura singled off Hideaki Wakui and Kajitani doubled him home. Yamada hit into a run-scoring error by 3B Takeya Nakamura to tie it.

In the 6th, the Central League went ahead. Shinnosuke Abe took Wakui deep, then Lopez doubled (Lopez had the first three-hit All-Star Game since Seiichi Uchikawa in 2008). With one out, Shingo Kawabata singled to right to score Lopez. Yoshihiro Maru singled and Toritani added a two-out RBI single for a 7-4 edge. They got their last run in the 8th when Ryosuke Kikuchi doubled off Naoki Miyanishi and Kosuke Tanaka tripled him in.

The PL came back in the 9th against Yasuaki Yamasaki. Nobuhiro Matsuda singled and came around on a double by Sho Nakata. With two outs, Ginjiro Sumitani singled in Nakata to make it 8-6 but Yamasaki got Takuya Nakashima looking to end it.

The Central League got strong relief from the 3rd-7th from Shintaro Fujinami (3 perfect innings, 2 K), Hayato Takagi (1 H, 1 IP) and Tetsuya Yamaguchi (1 perfect inning, 1 K). Fujinami was named game MVP. The 21-year-old was the youngest person to win All-Star Game MVP; Yutaka Enatsu had held the record at 22 years, 2 months in 1970. Fujinami was the 16th player to throw three perfect innings in a NPB All-Star Game and the third Hanshin pitcher (following Jiro Ueda in 1970 and Enatsu in 1971).

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	7	1
Central	0	1	1	0	2	3	0	1	X	8	16	0

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Shogo Akiyama, CF (Seibu Lions)
2. Ikuhiro Kiyota, RF (Chiba Lotte Marines)
3. Tomoya Mori, DH (Seibu)
4. Takeya Nakamura, 3B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
5. Sho Nakata, 1B (Nippon Ham)
6. Hideto Asamura, 2B (Seibu)
7. Katsuya Kakunaka, LF (Chiba Lotte)
8. Kenta Imamiya, SS (Softbank Hawks)
9. Motohiro Shima, C (Rakuten Golden Eagles)

• Shohei Otani, P (Nippon Ham)

Backups Used

• Yoshio Itoi, DH (Orix Buffaloes)
• Nobuhiro Matsuda, 3B (Softbank)
• Luis Cruz, 2B (Chiba Lotte)
• Yuki Yanagita, RF (Softbank)
• Kazuo Matsui, PH (Rakuten)
• Takuya Nakashima, SS (Nippon Ham)
• Ginjiro Sumitani, C (Seibu)
• Yuki Nishi, P (Orix)
• Hideaki Wakui, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Yuito Mori, P (Softbank)
• Naoki Miyanishi, P (Nippon Ham)
• Yuki Matsui, P (Rakuten)

Manager

• Kimiyasu Kudoh

Coaches

• Junichi Fukura
• Hideki Kuriyama

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Takayuki Kajitani, CF (Yokohama BayStars)
2. Takashi Toritani, SS (Hanshin Tigers)
3. Tetsuto Yamada, 2B (Yakult Swallows)
4. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, LF (Yokohama)
5. Shinnosuke Abe, DH (Yomiuri Giants)
6. Jose Lopez, 1B (Yokohama)
7. Ryosuke Hirata, RF (Chunichi Dragons)
8. Shingo Kawabata, 3B (Yakult)
9. Yuhei Nakamura, C (Yakult)

• Tomoyuki Sugano, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Kosuke Tanaka, SS (Hiroshima Carp)
• Hector Luna, 3B (Chunichi)
• Tsubasa Aizawa, C (Hiroshima)
• Yuhei Takai, RF (Yakult)
• Takahiro Arai, 1B (Hiroshima)
• Ryosuke Kikuchi, 2B (Hiroshima)
• Takahiro Suzuki, LF (Yomiuri)
• Yoshihiro Maru, LF (Hiroshima)
• Shintaro Fujinami, P (Hanshin)
• Hayato Takagi, P (Yomiuri)
• Tetsuya Yamaguchi, P (Yomiuri)
• Yasuaki Yamasaki, P (Yokohama)

Manager

• Tatsunori Hara

Coaches

• Yutaka Wada
• Koichi Ogata

Umpires

• Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Masao Yanada, Kinji Nishimoto, Tomiji Iizuka, Toshio Azuma, Kunio Kiuchi

Game 2

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

Game 2 was July 18 at Mazda Stadium in front of 30,641 fans. Hiroki Kuroda became the second pitcher over 40 years of age to start a NPB All-Star Game (after Yutaka Ono in 1997) and the fifth pitcher over 40 to pitch in one. He allowed three hits and a walk but also fanned three in two innings and did not allow a run. He set a record for most NPB All-Star Game whiffs by a pitcher over 40; 2015 PL skipper Kudoh had set the mark at two in 2004 and 2005.

PL starter Mitsuo Yoshikawa matched Kuroda with two shutout innings. In the bottom of the third, Game MVP Aizawa hit a one-out home run off Brandon Dickson for a 1-0 CL lead. They built on that in the 4th against Ken Togame as Luna singled, Arai had a one-out single, Kajitani singled in Luna. Takai grounded the runners over then Kosuke Tanaka hit a two-run single to make it 4-0.

Kenta Maeda followed Kuroda with two more shutout innings and would get the win; all 38 of his pitches were fastballs. In the top of the fifth, Kenjiro Tanaka relieved Maeda and allowed a solo home run to Akiyama to close the score to 4-1. Togame had more trouble in the bottom of the fifth, though, as Luna drew a two-out walk and Tsutsugo and Arai followed with RBI doubles. Kajitani had another RBI single to make it 7-1.

Pinch-hitter Mori homered off Yudai Ono in the top of the sixth, with Nakata aboard, to pull the PL within four, 7-3. Mori became the youngest player to hit a pinch-hit homer in a NPB All-Star Game; Akinobu Okada had been the youngest at 22 years, 8 months 1980. Mori was only the second player under 20 to homer in a NPB All-Star Game; Kazuhiro Kiyohara was the other teenager, in 1986 and 1987. The last run came in the 8th when Hirata homered off Tomomi Takahashi.

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Akiyama, LF
2. Cruz, 2B
3. Yanagita, CF
4. Nakata, 1B
5. Nakamura, 3B
6. Itoi, DH
7. Matsui, RF
8. Nakashima, SS
9. Sumitani, C

• Mitsuo Yoshikawa, P (Nippon Ham)

Backups Used

• Kakunaka, LF
• Asamura, 2B
• Matsuda, 3B
• Mori, DH
• Kiyota, RF
• Imamiya, SS
• Shima, C
• Brandon Dickson, P (Orix)
• Ken Togame, P (Seibu)
• Shota Takeda, P (Softbank)
• Tomomi Takahashi, P (Seibu)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Maru, LF
2. Kikuchi, 2B
3. Luna, 3B
4. Tsutsugo, DH
5. Arai, 1B
6. Kajitani, CF
7. Takai, RF
8. Ko. Tanaka, SS
9. Aizawa, C

• Hiroki Kuroda, P (Hiroshima)

Backups Used

• Yamada, 2B
• Kawabata, 3B
• Abe, DH
• Lopez, 2B
• Suzuki, CF
• Nakamura, C
• Hirata, RF
• Toritani, SS
• Kenta Maeda, P (Hiroshima)
• Kenjiro Tanaka, P (Yokohama)
• Yudai Ono, P (Chunichi)
• Tony Barnette, P (Yakult)
• Seung-hwan Oh, P (Hanshin)

Umpires

Kiuchi, Azuma, Iizuka, Nishimoto, Yanada, Kobayashi

Primary Source: Yakyu Baka