2016 NPB All-Star Game

Game 1

The first game was held July 15 at YafuOku Dome. 35.653 fans turned out for the game. Starters Tomoyuki Sugano (Central League) and Tsuyoshi Wada (Pacific League) each retired all six batters they faced. The relievers, Shintaro Fujinami (CL) and Ayumu Ishikawa (PL) were perfect in the third. In the 4th, CL shortstop Hayato Sakamoto had the game's first hit when he took Ishikawa deep with two outs. The CL got two more solo homers in the 5th against Takahiro Norimoto, one by LF Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and one by DH Wladimir Balentien. To that point, all three hits in the game had been homers; there was finally a single by RF Shun Takayama following Balentien's blast.

The first hit by the PL came in the bottom of the fifth when DH Yuya Hasegawa went yard against Yusuke Nomura. It remained 3-1 going into the bottom of the 8th. 2B Daichi Suzuki doubled off Scott Mathieson and C Tatsuhiro Tamura singled him in. The CL got insurance that proved critical in the top of the 9th against Dennis Sarfate. 2B Ryosuke Kikuchi and RF Seiya Suzuki had one-out singles. With two away, DH Yasutaka Tobashira singled to center to score both runners. In the bottom of the 9th, Shota Nakazaki had trouble closing it out. He walked RF Yoshio Itoi then LF Takumi Kuriyama homered to right-center. He was the 16th player to homer in his first All-Star plate appearance (Dai-Kang Yoh in 2012 had been the most recent). Nakazaki then settled down to retire CF Takero Okajima, 1B Ernesto Mejia and 3B Brandon Laird to end it.

Tsutsugo won MVP, the youngest BayStars player to be All-Star Game MVP (24 years, 7 months, 2 years and a month younger than Yutaka Takagi in 1985). Two rookies (Takayama and Tobashira) had hits in the same All-Star Game for the first time in NPB annals; no rookie had gotten a hit since Kosuke Fukudome in 1999. Tobashira was the second player to get a hit and RBI in his first NPB All-Star Game plate appearance, following Akinobu Okada in 1980.

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

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yoshihiro Maru, LF (Hiroshima Carp)
2. Shingo Kawabata, 3B (Yakult Swallows)
3. Hayato Sakamoto, SS (Yomiuri Giants)
4. Tetsuto Yamada, 2B (Yakult)
5. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, LF (Yokohama BayStars)
6. Takahiro Arai, 1B (Hiroshima)
7. Wladimir Balentien, DH (Yakult)
8. Shun Takayama, RF (Hanshin Tigers)
9. Yuhei Nakamura, C (Yakult)

• Tomoyuki Sugano, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Dayan Viciedo, 1B (Chunichi Dragons)
• Ryosuke Kikuchi, 2B (Hiroshima)
• Seiya Suzuki, RF (Hiroshima)
• Keiji Obiki, SS (Yakult)
• Yasutaka Tobashira, DH (Yokohama)
• Brad Eldred, PH (Hiroshima)
• Fumihito Haraguchi, C (Hanshin)
• Shintaro Fujinami, P (Hanshin)
• Yusuke Nomura, P (Hiroshima)
• Tomoya Mikami, P (Yokohama)
• Scott Mathieson, P (Yomiuri)
• Shota Nakazaki, P (Hiroshima)

Manager

• Mitsuru Manaka (Yakult)

Coaches

• Yoshinobu Takahashi (Yomiuri)
• Tomoaki Kanemoto (Hanshin)

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Shogo Akiyama, CF (Seibu Lions)
2. Katsuya Kakunaka, LF (Chiba Lotte Marines)
3. Yuki Yanagita, RF (Softbank Hawks)
4. Sho Nakata, 1B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
5. Nobuhiro Matsuda, 3B (Softbank)
6. Yuya Hasegawa, DH (Softbank)
7. Hideto Asamura, 2B (Seibu)
8. Ginjiro Sumitani, C (Seibu)
9. Kenta Imamiya, SS (Softbank)

• Tsuyoshi Wada, P (Softbank)

Backups Used

• Yoshio Itoi, RF (Orix Buffaloes)
• Takumi Kuriyama, LF (Seibu)
• Takero Okajima, CF (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B (Seibu)
• Brandon Laird, 3B (Nippon Ham)
• Shohei Otani, DH (Nippon Ham)
• Daichi Suzuki, 2B (Chiba Lotte)
• Tatsuhiro Tamura, C (Chiba Lotte)
• Ayumu Ishikawa, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Takahiro Norimoto, P (Rakuten)
• Chris Martin, P (Nippon Ham)
• Shohei Tsukahara, P (Orix)
• Dennis Sarfate, P (Softbank)

Manager

• Kimiyasu Kudoh (Softbank)

Coaches

• Tsutomu Itoh (Chiba Lotte)
• Hideki Kuriyama (Nippon Ham)

Umpires

• Takahiro Tsuchiyama (Home), Tetsuya Shimada (1B), Atsushi Kittaka (2B), Norihiro Akimura (3B), Kazuaki Nakou (LF), Takayuki Ichikawa (RF)

Game 2

Game 2 was held July 16 at Yokohama Stadium and 26,360 fans showed up. The CL burst ahead early. In the bottom of the second, Tsutsugo kept up his game 1 pace with a solo shot off Hideaki Wakui. 1B Viciedo, DH Eldred and 3B Kawabata hit three straight singles. RF Seiya Suzuki hit a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. In the 3rd, CF Maru hit a two-out solo shot against Tsukahara to make it 3-0.

After four scoreless frames by Kenta Ishida and Yuta Iwasada, Shoichi Ino had trouble in the top of the 5th. DH Otani hit a home run, 3B Laird doubled and 2B Asamura hit the 400th NPB All-Star Game homer (and 9th of 2016!) to tie it up. It remained 3-3 until the 7th, when Otani singled off Ryo Akiyoshi and came home on a two-out single by backup SS Imamiya.

In the bottom of the 7th, the CL came back against Kenta Arihara, who worked the final three innings. With one out, Seiya Suzuki doubled as did PH Haraguchi to tie it. Backup SS Obiki singled in Haraguchi for a 5-4 lead. Facing Shinji Tajima in the top of the 8th, Akiyama singled, as did backup RF Yanagita with one away. Otani again came through, with a run-scoring single to give him a 3-for-4 day with two runs and two RBI, winning him MVP honors.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	1	0	5	12	0
Central	0	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	5	10	1

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Okajima, CF
2. Kuriyama, LF
3. Itoi, RF
4. Mejia, 1B
5. Otani, DH
6. Laird, 3B
7. Asamura, 2B
8. D. Suzuki, SS
9. Tamura, C

• Hideaki Wakui, P (Chiba Lotte)

Backups Used

• Akiyama, CF
• Kakunaka, LF
• Yanagita, RF
• Nakata, 1B
• Matsuda, 3B
• Imamiya, SS
• Hasegawa, PH
• Sumitani, C
• Tsukahara, P
• Naoya Masuda, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Kazuhisa Makita, P (Seibu)
• Yuji Nishino, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Kohei Arihara, P (Nippon Ham)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Sakamoto, SS
2. Kikuchi, 2B
3. Maru, CF
4. Tsutsugo, LF
5. Viciedo, 1B
6. Eldred, DH
7. Kawabata, 3B
8. S. Suzuki, RF
9. Tobashira, C

• Kenta Ishida, P (Yokohama)

Backups Used

• Obiki, SS
• Balentien, RF
• Takayama, LF
• Arai, 1B
• Nakamura, DH
• Yamada, 3B
• Haraguchi, C
• Yuta Iwasada, P (Hanshin)
• Shoichi Ino, P (Yokohama)
• Ryo Akiyoshi, P (Yakult)
• Shinji Tajima, P (Chunichi)
• Yasuaki Yamasaki, P (Yokohama)

Umpires

• Ichikawa (Home), Nakou (1B), Akimura (2B), Kittaka (3B), Shimada (LF), Tsuchiyama (RF)