2019 NPB All-Star Game

The 2019 NPB All-Star Games were a split after the Pacific League had swept the prior two seasons.

Game 1

The first game was held July 12 at Tokyo Dome with an attendance of 44,791. The PL won their fifth straight game, led by MVP Tomoya Mori, who hit a two-run homer (with Brandon Laird aboard) in the 2nd off Daichi Osera for his third homer in three NPB All-Star Games. The Central League made it 2-1 with an unearned run in the 4th. In the 6th, Hideto Asamura and Hotaka Yamakawa both homered off Shun Yamaguchi for a 4-1 PL edge. They made it 6-1 with two runs off Yasuaki Yamasaki in the top of the 9th. The CL then made it a bit closer in the bottom half when Fumihito Haraguchi (who had cancer surgery earlier in the year) took Yoshinobu Yamamoto yard. Yamamoto had the first three-inning save in a NPB All-Star Game since Hiroshi Takamura in 1996.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Shogo Akiyama, CF (Seibu Lions)
2. Kensuke Kondo, DH (Nippon Ham Fighters)
3. Hideto Asamura, 2B (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
4. Hotaka Yamakawa, 1B (Seibu)
5. Masataka Yoshida, LF (Orix Buffaloes)
6. Brandon Laird, 3B (Chiba Lotte Marines)
7. Tomoya Mori, C (Seibu)
8. Takashi Ogino, RF (Chiba Lotte)
9. Eigoro Mogi, SS (Rakuten)

• Kodai Senga, P (Rakuten)

Backups Used

• Haruki Nishikawa, CF (Nippon Ham)
• Alfredo Despaigne, DH (Softbank Hawks)
• Daichi Suzuki, 2B (Chiba Lotte)
• Ginji Akaminai, 1B (Rakuten)
• Yurisbel Gracial, LF (Softbank)
• Nobuhiro Matsuda, 3B (Softbank)
• Sosuke Genda, SS (Seibu)
• Kohei Arihara, P (Nippon Ham)
• Naoki Miyanishi, P (Nippon Ham)
• Yuki Matsui, P (Rakuten)
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto, P (Orix)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Tetsuto Yamada, 2B (Yakult Swallows)
2. Hayato Sakamoto, SS (Yomiuri Giants)
3. Yoshihiro Maru, CF (Yomiuri)
4. Seiya Suzuki, RF (Hiroshima Carp)
5. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, LF (Yokohama BayStars)
6. Kazuma Okamoto, 3B (Yomiuri)
7. José López, DH (Yokohama)
8. Munetaka Murakami, 1B (Yakult)
9. Tsubasa Aizawa, C (Hiroshima)

• Daichi Osera, P (Hiroshima)

Backups Used

• Ryosuke Kikuchi, 2B (Hiroshima)
• Yota Kyoda, SS (Chunichi Dragons)
• Koji Chikamoto, CF (Hanshin Tigers)
• Shuhei Takahashi, 3B (Chunichi)
• Ryutaro Umeno, DH (Hanshin)
• Fumihito Haraguchi, DH (Hanshin)
• Yuhei Nakamura, C (Yakult)
• Shota Imanaga, P (Yokohama)
• Shun Yamaguchi, P (Yomiuri)
• Scott McGough, P (Yakult)
• Geronimo Franzua, P (Hiroshima)
• Yasuaki Yamasaki, P (Yokohama)

Umpires

Masanobu Sasaki (Home), Taisei Sugimoto (1B), Hideshi Honda (2B), Kota Kawaguchi (3B), Tomoya Ishiyama (LF), Hideto Fuke (RF)

Game 2

The second game was played at Koshien Stadium July 13 with 45,217 present. The CL struck early and often to break their losing streak. Koji Chikamoto, a Tigers rookie, made history. He was the first rookie to lead off an All-Star Game with a homer, doing so off Taisuke Yamaoka. He then made more history by becoming the second player to hit for a cycle in a NPB All-Star Game; Atsuya Furuta had done so in 1992. He had two doubles in a 5-for-5 day. Also going deep were Fumihito Haraguchi, Ryutaro Umeno, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and Seiya Suzuki for the CL. Tomoyuki Sugano got the win. Most of the PL offense came on a two-run shot by Masataka Yoshida off Yuya Yanagi.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	9	0
Central	2	6	1	1	0	0	1	0	-	11	20	2

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Nishikawa, CF
2. Gracial, RF
3. Yoshida, LF
4. Yamakawa, 1B
5. Despaigne, DH
6. Matsuda, 3B
7. Akaminai, 2B
8. Takuya Kai, C (Softbank)
9. Genda, SS

• Taisuke Yamaoka, P (Orix)

Backups Used

• Kondo, RF
• Akiyama, LF
• Suzuki, 2B
• Laird, DH
• Asamura, DH
• Mori, PH
• Kona Takahashi, P (Seibu)
• Manabu Mima, P (Rakuten)
• Kota Futaki, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Katsunori Hirai, P (Seibu)
• Rei Takahashi, P (Softbank)
• Tatsushi Masuda, P (Seibu)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Chikamoto, CF
2. S. Takahashi, 3B
3. Yamada, 2B
4. Tsutsugo, LF
5. Suzuki, RF
6. Murakami, 1B
7. Haraguchi, DH
8. Umeno, C
9. Kyoda, SS

• Tomoyuki Sugano, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Okamoto, 3B
• Kikuchi, 2B
• Maru, CF
• López, 1B
• Kazuki Kamizato, RF (Yokohama)
• Sakamoto, SS
• Yuya Yanagi, P (Chunichi)
• Koyo Aoyagi, P (Hanshin)
• Hiroki Tokoda, P (Hiroshima)
• Pierce Johnson, P (Hanshin)
• Kyuji Fujikawa, P (Hanshin)

Umpires

Fuke (Home), Ishiyama (1B), Kawaguchi (2B), Honda (3B), Sugimoto (LF), Sasaki (RF)

Sources

• NPB official site, game 1 box
• NPB official site, game 2 box
• Jim Allen's NPB blog
• Japan Times