2022 NPB All-Star Game

The 2022 NPB All-Star Games were swept by the Pacific League for the first time since 2018. They were back to regular crowd sizes after limits in 2021 due to COVID-19.

Game 1

The first game was held July 26 at PayPay Dome with an attendance of 35,534. The Central League started off strong. In the top of the first, Yasutaka Shiomi singled off Tomohisa Ozeki. Koji Chikamoto also singled and stole, then Shugo Maki hit a sacrifice fly. In the 2nd, Dayán Viciedo homered off Taisuke Yamaoka for a 2-0 lead, but the PL's hurlers would allow only two hits and no runs the rest of the way, the win going to Yuki Matsui.

The PL made it a one-run game against Koyo Aoyagi when Hotaka Yamakawa went deep. In the 6th, Hiromu Ise hit Masataka Yoshida with one away, then Yamakawa singled and Yurisbel Gracial drew a two-out walk. 3B Yuma Mune singled in Yoshida to tie it. It remained 2-2 until the 9th when Kotaro Kiyomiya took Masato Morishita deep for the first sayonara homer in a NPB All-Star Game since Sadaaki Yoshimura in 1986.

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

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yasutaka Shiomi, CF (Yakult Swallows)
2. Koji Chikamoto, LF (Hanshin Tigers)
3. Shugo Maki, 2B (Yokohama BayStars
4. Munetaka Murakami, 3B (Yakult)
5. Teruaki Sato, RF (Hanshin)
6. Dayán Viciedo, 1B (Chunichi Dragons)
7. Keita Sano, DH (Yokohama)
8. Takuya Kinoshita, C (Chunichi)
9. Takumu Nakano, SS (Hanshin)

• Koyo Aoyagi, P (Chunichi)

Backups used

• Adam Walker, LF (Yomiuri Giants)
• Tetsuto Yamada, 2B (Yakult)
• Kaito Kozono, 3B (Hiroshima Carp)
• Yusuke Ohyama, RF (Hanshin)
• Shogo Sakakura, 1B (Hiroshima)
• Yuhei Nakamura, DH (Yakult)
• Seiji Kobayashi, C (Yomiuri)
• Hideki Nagaoka, SS (Yakult)
• Shosei Togo, P (Yomiuri)
• Keiji Takahashi, P (Yakult)
• Hiromu Ise, P (Yokohama)
• Atsuki Yuasa, P (Hanshin)
• Masato Morishita, P (Hiroshima)

Manager

• Shingo Takatsu

Coaches

• Norihiro Komada
• Akihiro Yano

Pacific League starting lineup

1. Yuki Yanagita, RF (Softbank Hawks
2. Hideto Asamura, 2B (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
3. Masataka Yoshida, LF (Orix Buffaloes)
4. Hotaka Yamakawa, 1B (Seibu Lions)
5. Tomoya Mori, C (Seibu)
6. Yurisbel Gracial, DH (Softbank)
7. Yuma Mune, 3B (Orix)
8. Kenta Imamiya, SS (Softbank)
9. Akito Takabe, LF (Chiba Lotte Marines)

• Tomohisa Ohzeki, P (Softbank)

Backups used

• Hiroaki Shimauchi, RF (Rakuten)
• Kotaro Kiyomiya, LF (Nippon Ham Fighters)
• Hiroto Kobukata, 2B (Rakuten)
• Kou Matsukawa, C (Chiba Lotte)
• Brandon Laird, DH (Chiba Lotte)
• Taisei Makihara, 2B (Softbank)
• Taisuke Yamaoka, P (Orix)
• Takahiro Norimoto, P (Rakuten)
• Keisuke Honda, P (Seibu)
• Fumiya Ono, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Kaima Taira, P (Seibu)
• Naoya Masuda, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Liván Moinelo, P (Softbank)
• Yuki Matsui, P (Rakuten)

Manager

• Satoshi Nakajima

Coaches

• Tadahito Iguchi
• Kazuhisa Ishii

Umpires

• Fumihiro Yoshimoto (Home), Kazuo Kobayashi (1B), Chikara Tsugawa (2B), Hidetomo Ashihara (3B), Tetsuya Shimata (LF), Kengo Iwashita (RF)

Game 2

Game 2 took place on July 27 at Matsuyama. The PL used 11 pitchers, none working more than one inning. They started with young sensation Roki Sasaki, who tied Shohei Ohtani's record for fastest pitch by a Japanese player in a NPB All-Star Game (162 kmph, 100.7 mph), 1 kmph shy of the All-Star Game record held by Thyago Vieira. It was his first game in almost a month due to a blister on his hand preventing him from throwing. His heat proved little problem for the CL batters; with one out, they got three straight hits from Adam Walker, Tetsuto Yamada and Munetaka Murakami before a sac fly from Teruaki Sato. Sasaki recovered to retire Yusuke Ohyama on a fly. The PL's large corps of pitchers kept the CL off the scoreboard the rest of the day.

In the second, the PL tied it up as Taisei Makihara singled off Hiroki Tokoda. Akito Takabe hit into a force, stole second and scored on a hit by C Ko Matsukawa, who became the youngest player to drive in a run in a NPB All-Star Game (18 years and 9 months old, 2 months younger than Kazuhiro Kiyohara had been in 1986). It remained 1-1 until the 6th, when Yuki Yanagita homered off Suguru Iwazaki. Interestingly, Yanagita was using the bat of Game 1 star Kiyomiya.

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

Players used

Pacific League starting lineup

1. Kiyomiya, 3B
2. Gracial, LF
3. Yanagita, DH
4. Laird, 1B
5. Shimauchi, RF
6. Makihara, 2B
7. Takabe, CF
8. Matsukawa, C
9. Kobukata, SS

• Roki Sasaki, P

Backups used

• Yamakawa, 3B
• Mune, 3B
• Yoshida, DH
• Imamiya, SS
• Asamura, 1B
• Mori, C
• Honda, P
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto, P (Orix)
• Nao Higashihama, P (Softbank)
• Ono, P
• Yoshinobu Mizukami, P (Seibu)
• Takayuki Kishi, P (Rakuten)
• Hiromi Itoh, P (Nippon-Ham)
• Moinelo, P
• Matsui, P
• Masuda, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Shiomi, CF
2. Walker, LF
3. Yamada, DH
4. Murakami, 3B
5. Sato, RF
6. Ohyama, 1B
7. Nakamura, C
8. Nagaoka, SS
9. Kozono, 2B

• Hiroki Tokoda, P (Hiroshima)

Backups used

• Chikamoto, CF
• Sano, LF
• Kinoshita, DH
• Sakakura, 3B
• Viciedo, 1B
• Kobayashi, C
• Nakano, SS
• Maki, 2B
• Yudai Ohno, P (Chunichi)
• Masashi Itoh, P (Hanshin)
• Suguru Iwazaki, P (Hanshin)
• Ryoji Kuribayashi, P (Hiroshima)
• Raidel Martínez, P (Chunichi)
• Scott McGough, P (Yakult)

Umpires

• Iwashita (Home), Shimada (1B), Ashihara (2B), Tsugawa (3B), Kobayashi (LF), Yoshimoto (RF)

Sources

• NPB site
• NPB English site
• Mainichi
• Kyodo