2023 NPB All-Star Game

The 2023 NPB All-Star Games were held July 19 and July 20, 2023; the Pacific League swept the Central League for the second straight year.

Game 1

The first game took place July 19 at Vantelin Dome Nagoya with an attendance of 35,437 and was a one-sided affair from the get-go. Shuta Tonosaki, Kensuke Kondoh (who went 3-for-3), Go Matsumoto and Yuki Yanagita began with four straight hits off Shoki Murakami to make it 2-0. After an out, Ryoya Kurihara singled in another and Yuma Tongu's grounder made it 4-0. MVP Yanagita added a solo shot in the third off Shinnosuke Ogasawara. In the 6th, facing Suguru Iwazaki, Takeya Nakamura singled as did pinch-hitter Hisanori Yasuda. Tongu's sac fly put the PL up 6-0 and Sosuke Genda doubled in Yasuda for a 7-0 lead. It was 8-0 after Chusei Mannami hits a solo shot off Noboru Shimizu in the 7th. The CL avoided a whitewash when Toshiro Miyazaki went yard off Masahiro Tanaka in the bottom of the inning. 42-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada broke his own record as the oldest PL pitcher in an All-Star Game.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	4	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	8	15	0
Central	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	0

Players used

Pacific League starting lineup

1. Shuta Tonosaki, 2B (Seibu Lions)
2. Kensuke Kondoh, LF (Softbank Hawks)
3. Go Matsumoto, CF (Nippon Ham Fighters)
4. Yuki Yanagita, RF (Softbank)
5. Takeya Nakamura, DH (Seibu)
6. Ryoya Kurihara, 3B (Softbank)
7. Yuma Tongu, 1B (Orix Buffaloes)
8. Sosuke Genda, SS (Seibu)
9. Kenya Wakatsuki, C (Orix)

• Roki Sasaki, P (Chiba Lotte Marines)

Backups used

• Hiroto Kobukata, 2B (Rakuten Golden Eagles)
• Akira Nakamura, LF (Softbank)
• Chusei Mannami, CF (Nippon Ham)
• Yutaro Sugimoto, RF (Orix)
• Hisanori Yasuda, 1B (Chiba Lotte)
• Kotaro Kurebayashi, SS (Orix)
• Ariel Martínez, C (Nippon Ham)
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto, P (Orix)
• Masahiro Tanaka, P (Rakuten)
• Tsuyoshi Wada, P (Softbank)
• Sachiya Yamasaki, P (Orix)
• Soichiro Yamazaki, P (Orix)
• Seigi Tanaka, P (Nippon Ham)
• Takayuki Kato, P (Nippon Ham)

Manager

• Satoshi Nakajima

Coaches

• Hiroshi Fujimoto
• Kazuo Matsui

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Takumu Nakano, 2B (Hanshin Tigers)
2. Shogo Akiyama, CF (Hiroshima Carp)
3. Sheldon Neuse, LF (Hanshin)
4. Yusuke Ohyama, 1B (Hanshin)
5. Kazuma Okamoto, DH (Yomiuri Giants)
6. Teruaki Sato, 3B (Hanshin)
7. Seiya Hosokawa, RF (Chunichi Dragons)
8. Ryutaro Umeno, C (Hanshin)
9. Seiya Kinami, SS (Hanshin)

• Shoki Murakami, P (Hanshin)

Backups used

• Shugo Maki, 2B (Yokohama BayStars)
• Taiki Sekine, CF (Yokohama)
• Keita Sano, LF (Yokohama)
• Sho Nakata, 1B (Yomiuri)
• Toshiro Miyazaki, 3B (Yokohama)
• Takumi Ohshiro, C (Yomiuri)
• Hideki Nagaoka, SS (Yakult Swallows)
• Shinnosuke Ogasawara, P (Chunichi)
• Katsuki Azuma, P (Yokohama)
• Suguru Iwazaki, P (Hanshin)
• Noboru Shimizu, P (Yakult)
• Yasuaki Yamasaki, P (Yokohama)
• Raidel Martínez, P (Chunichi)

Manager

• Shingo Takatsu

Coaches

• Daisuke Miura
• Akinobu Okada

Umpires

• Yuta Suyama (Home), Kenichi Umeki (1B), Naoto Shikita (2B), Taro Murayama (3B), Koichi Nagai (LF), Kazuyuki Shirai (RF)

Game 2

In front of 30,925 fans, the PL won its fifth straight All-Star Game and swept its second straight series, in another one-sided affair. The game took place at Mazda Stadium. The PL got to starter Aren Kuri in the second. Yanagita again had a fine day, starting this rally with a double. After a single by Kotaro Kurebayashi, Kenya Wakatsuki hit a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. They tripled it in the fourth - game MVP Chusei Mannami greeted Trevor Bauer with a dinger, Kurebayashi had a one-out single, then Yasuda singled and Wakatsuki grounded in a run. In the bottom of the fifth, the CL got its lone run when Kazuma Okamoto doubled off Yuki Tsumori and Shugo Maki singled him in. The PL padded their lead in the 7th when Ariel Martínez and Matsumoto had hits off Koutaro Ohtake and Kurihara contributed a sacrifice fly. They got the game's last runs in the 8th off Nik Turley. Tongu drew a one-out walk, Kurebayashi had his third hit and Martínez socked a two-run triple. Shunpeita Yamashita faced the minimum over two innings in getting the win.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	2	0	6	13	0
Central	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	1

Players used

Pacific League starting lineup

1. Sugimoto, RF
2. A. Nakamura, 1B
3. Kondoh, LF
4. Mannami, CF
5. Yanagita, DH
6. Kurebayashi, SS
7. Yasuda, 1B
8. Wakatsuki, C
9. Kobukata, LF

• Shunpeita Yamashita, P (Orix)

Backups used

• Matsumoto, RF
• Kurihara, 1B
• Tonosaki, 2B
• Tongu, DH
• Genda, 3B
• A. Martínnez, C
• Naoyuki Uwasawa, P (Nippon Ham)
• Atsuki Taneichi, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Yuki Tsumori, P (Softbank)
• Luis Perdomo, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Roberto Osuna, P (Softbank)
• Kaima Taira, P (Seibu)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Sekine, RF
2. Sano, LF
3. Akiyama, CF
4. Okamoto, 3B
5. Maki, 2B
6. Nakata, 1B
7. Miyazaki, DH
8. Ohshiro, C
9. Nagaoka, SS

• Aren Kuri, P (Hiroshima)

Backups used

• Neuse, LF
• Hosokawa, CF
• Sato, 3B
• Ohyama, 1B
• Umeno, C
• Kinami, SS
• Shota Imanaga, P (Yokohama)
• Trevor Bauer, P (Yokohama)
• Cy Sneed, P (Yakult)
• Shosei Togo, P (Yomiuri)
• Koutaro Ohtake, P (Hanshin)
• Nik Turley, P (Hiroshima)
• Kazuto Taguchi, P (Yakult)

Umpires

• Nagai (Home), Murayama (1B), Shirai (2B), Umeki (3B), Suyama (LF), Shikita (RF)

Sources

• NPB site
• Jballen
• Japanese Wikipedia