2017 NPB All-Star Game

The Pacific League won both of the 2017 NPB All-Star Games by ratios of 3:1 - 6-2 in the opener and 3-1 in game 2.

Game 1

The first game was held July 14 at Nagoya Dome with an attendance of 36,111. The PL jumped on the board quickly when RF Shogo Akiyama led off the game with a home run off Raúl Valdés but Valdés, Kazuto Taguchi and Akitake Okada combined for only one hit and no runs in the next five innings as the CL battled back. Central League LF Yoshitomo Tsutsugo took Yusei Kikuchi deep in the 4th to tie it; he was only the third player to drive in runs in five straight All-Star Games, following Hideki Matsui and Takeshi Yamasaki. The CL then went ahead in the 6th. With one out, SS Hayato Sakamoto singled off Taisuke Yamaoka and stole, then scored on a two-out double by DH Alex Guerrero. Yamaoka would wind up the winner, though, as the PL offense came alive after Okada left.

In the top of the 7th, PH Seiichi Uchikawa singled off Katsuki Matayoshi and backup CF Haruki Nishikawa singled as well. Matayoshi retired 3B Nobuhiro Matsuda and fanned 1B Sho Nakata but Alfredo Despaigne hit a pinch-hit single to score Uchikawa. In the 8th, the PL lit up Marcos Mateo. Akiyama led off with a single. Following an out, Uchikawa singled again and light-hitting Nishikawa smacked a three-run homer, continuing his penchant for showing surprising power in the clutch (witness the 2016 Japan Series). Nakata went yard off Yasuaki Yamasaki to open the 9th to cap the scoring. Uchikawa (2 for 2, 2 R, RBI) won game MVP.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Shogo Akiyama, RF (Seibu Lions)
2. Hideto Asamura, 2B (Seibu)
3. Shohei Otani, DH (Nippon Ham Fighters)
4. Yuki Yanagita, CF (Softbank Hawks)
5. Nobuhiro Matsuda, 3B (Softbank)
6. Sho Nakata, 1B (Nippon Ham)
7. Seiji Uebayashi, LF (Softbank)
8. Motohiro Shima, C (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
9. Kenta Imamiya, SS (Softbank)

• Kodai Senga, P (Softbank)

Backups Used

• Daichi Suzuki, 2B (Chiba Lotte Marines)
• Seiichi Uchikawa, DH (Softbank)
• Haruki Nishikawa, CF (Nippon Ham)
• Alfredo Despaigne, PH (Softbank)
• Takahiro Okada, LF (Orix Buffaloes)
• Brandon Laird, PH (Nippon Ham)
• Tatsuhiro Tamura, C (Chiba Lotte)
• Sosuke Genda, SS (Seibu)
• Yusei Kikuchi, P (Seibu)
• Keisuke Tanimoto, P (Nippon Ham)
• Taisuke Yamaoka, P (Orix)
• Kazuhisa Makita, P (Seibu)
• Yuki Matsui, P (Rakuten)

Manager

• Hideki Kuriyama (Nippon Ham)

Coaches

• Kimiyasu Kudoh (Softbank)
• Tsutomu Itoh (Chiba Lotte)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yoshio Itoi, CF (Hanshin Tigers)
2. Takashi Toritani, 3B (Hanshin)
3. Hayato Sakamoto, SS (Yomiuri Giants)
4. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, LF (Yokohama BayStars)
5. Alex Guerrero, DH (Chunichi Dragons)
6. Seiya Suzuki, RF (Hiroshima Carp)
7. Takahiro Arai, 1B (Hiroshima)
8. Ryutaro Umeno, C (Hanshin)
9. Ryosuke Kikuchi, 2B (Hiroshima)

• Raúl Valdés, P (Chunichi)

Backups Used

• Yohei Oshima, CF (Chunichi)
• Casey McGehee, 3B (Yomiuri)
• Kosuke Tanaka, SS (Hiroshima)
• Yoshihiro Maru, LF (Hiroshima)
• Shinnosuke Abe, 1B (Yomiuri)
• Yasutaka Tobashira, C (Yokohama)
• Toshiro Miyazaki, 2B (Yokohama)
• Kazuto Taguchi, P (Yomiuri)
• Akitake Okada, P (Hiroshima)
• Katsuki Matayoshi, P (Chunichi)
• Marcos Mateo, P (Hanshin)
• Yasuaki Yamasaki, P (Yokohama)

Manager

• Koichi Ogata (Hiroshima)

Coaches

• Yoshinobu Takahashi (Yomiuri)
• Alex Ramirez (Yokohama)

Umpires

• Atsushi Fukaya (Home), Ryotaro Sakai (1B), Katsumi Manabe (2B), Kyohei Makita (3B), Shinji Hashimoto (LF), Taro Muriyama (RF)

Game 2

The second game took place July 15 at ZOZO Marine Stadium in front of 26,407 fans. Takahiro Norimoto started strong for the PL, retiring the first six batters, half of them by strikeout. C Seiji Kobayashi homered off reliever Chihiro Kaneko in the third, though. He was the fourth player to homer on the first pitch he saw in an All-Star Game and first in 47 years, following Hajimu Tatsumi (1960), Art Lopez (1968) and Michiyo Arito (1970). That would be the lone bright spot for the CL offense as Manabu Mima, Kota Futaki, Yuta Kuroki and Keisuke Tanimoto allowed no runs, no walks and three hits the remainder of the day.

The PL comeback began in the bottom of the 4th when DH Alfredo Despaigne homered off Takumi Akiyama. In the 5th, 2B Daichi Suzuki tripled off Shoichi Ino and scored on a two-out double by RF Shogo Akiyama, who had three hits today. Akiyama, despite strong play in both games, didn't win MVP either time. In the bottom of the 7th, Suzuki struck again, this time homering off Yasuhiro Ogawa. The MVP went to Despaigne, who was 3 for 4 with the home run. It was only the third time both All-Star Game MVPs came from the same team - the Swallows had both in 1991 and the Giants both in 1995.

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

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Itoi, RF
2. Maru, CF
3. McGehee, 3B
4. Tsutogu, DH
5. Abe, 1B
6. Guerrero, LF
7. Miyazaki, 2B
8. Tanaka, SS
9. Seiji Kobayashi, C (Yomiuri)

• Tomoyuki Sugano, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• S. Suzuki, RF
• Toritani, 3B
• Arai, 1B
• Oshima, CF
• Kikuchi, 2B
• Sakamoto, SS
• Umeno, C
• Takumi Akiyama, P (Hanshin)
• Shoichi Ino, P (Yokohama)
• Yasuhiro Ogawa, P (Yakult Swallows)
• Kazuki Yabuta, P (Hiroshima)

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Akiyama, RF
2. Yanagita, CF
3. Uchikawa, 1B
4. Despaigne, DH
5. Laird, 3B
6. Okada, LF
7. D. Suzuki, 2B
8. Tamura, C
9. Genda, SS

• Takahiro Norimoto, P (Rakuten)

Backups Used

• Uebayashi, RF
• Asamura, PH
• Shima, C
• Nishikawa, LF
• Otani, PH
• Nakata, 1B
• Matsuda, PH
• Imamiya, SS
• Chihiro Kaneko, P (Orix)
• Manabu Mima, P (Rakuten)
• Kota Futaki, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Yuta Kuroki, P (Orix)
• Tanimoto, P

Umpires

• Muriyama (Home), Hashimoto (1B), Makita (2B), Manabe (3B), Sakai (LF), Fukaya (RF)