Japan All-Star Game Won By Pacific Again

The Pacific League All-Stars capitalized on a throwing error by the Yomiuri Giants’ Tatsunori Hara and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th to edge the Central League 4-3 Sunday in the second of a three-game All-Star series.

The Pacific League won the opener 6-4 on Saturday.

With two out in the 11th, pinch-hitter Hideaki Takazawa of the Lotte Orions singled and stole second base. The Seibu Lions’ Koji Akiyama hit an easy grounder to third, but Hara threw wildly to first base, allowing Takazawa to score.

The Pacific League took the lead in the bottom of the third on a two-run homer by the Nankai Hawks’ Kazunori Yamamoto.

But the Central League scored a run on a RBI triple by the Hiroshima Toyo Carps’ Yoshihiro Takahashi in the fifth and tied the game on a double by Akinobu Okada of the Hanshin Tigers in the sixth.

The Central League went ahead, 3-2, when Yoshihiko Takahashi drove in a tie-breaking run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, but the Pacific All-Stars came back in the bottom of the same inning on a solo home run by rookie Kazuhiro Kiyohara of the Seibu Lions.

Kiyohara was named the most valuable player of the second game.

The third game will be played in Hiroshima Tuesday.