After dropping the first three games of the All-Star Series in Japan, the MLB rebounded on Sunday and Tuesday to earn victories in the final two games. Matt Shoemaker delivered a strong outing and Jose Altuve contributed an RBI and a run scored in Tuesday's 3-1 win.
Shoemaker pitched for the MLB All-Stars in Game 1 of the series and was handed a loss after surrendering only two runs on six hits in five innings of work. On Tuesday, the right-hander rebounded and tossed five scoreless innings and gave up only two hits. Overall, the MLB pitching staff held Samurai Japan to four hits and one run over the course of the game after they allowed 15 runs in the previous four games.
In the beginning it didn't look good for the MLB All-Stars, who watched Robinson Cano break his pinkie toe on Saturday when he was hit by a pitch. His replacement, Jose Altuve, has proved to be a difference maker. The 2014 National League batting champion has gone 6-for-9 with two runs and an RBI in the final two games of the series as the team's leadoff hitter. During Tuesday's game, Altuve delivered an RBI groundout in the top of the third inning that scored Alcides Escobar and then scored a run on an Eduardo Nunez single in the sixth. Lucas Duda also scored in the third on a passed ball.
The combination of Shoemaker, Randy Choate, Tommy Hunter, Jose Veras and Mark Melancon shut down Samurai Japan in the final matchup of the official five-game showcase. Although the MLB All-Stars lost the series 3-2, they still have an opportunity to come out of Japan with a winning record. The team won 8-7 in the preliminary exhibition game last week and will face Samurai Japan one last time on Thursday in the exhibition finale.
"We got very good pitching from everyone that came to the mound," MLB manager John Farrell said, via this MLB.com article. "Obviously with Shoe's five shutout innings, he enabled our offense to get on track. We were able to bunch some hits together. More singles and base hits vs. any extra-base hits, but I think the one thing we've seen the last couple ballgames is our timing at the plate becoming more consistent."
The MLB All-Stars were tasked with facing 20-year-old Shohei Ohtani, whose fastball reaches 100 mph. In the Japan Pacific League, the right-hander went 11-4 with a 2.61 ERA with 179 strikeouts in 2014. His uncharacteristic outing on Tuesday earned him the loss after he surrendered six hits, two walks and two earned runs in just four innings.
The two teams will have the day off on Wednesday before ending the weeklong event with Thursday's exhibition finale. Los Angeles Angels pitcher Hector Santiago will start for the MLB while Samurai Japan will send Shota Takeda to the mound at Okinawa Cellular Stadium. The game will take place at 4 a.m. ET on MLB Network and MLB.TV.
