Sapporo, Japan (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Shoemaker threw five scoreless innings to lift the Major League Baseball All-Stars to a 3-1 triumph over Samurai Japan in the finale of the 2014 Japan Series on Tuesday.
Shoemaker scattered two hits and struck out two without a walk for the MLB stars, who won the final two of the five-game series after dropping the first three outings.
Jose Altuve went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, while Eduardo Nunez also drove home a run in the victory. Yasiel Puig added two hits for the MLB stars, who also picked up a 6-1 win on Sunday.
Lucas Duda started a two-run third inning for the MLB stars with a double, took third on a single by Alcides Escobar and scored on a passed ball. Escobar raced to third on the catcher's misplay and scored on an Altuve grounder.
Shoemaker, meanwhile, cruised through his five innings. He allowed a two-out single in the second and surrendered another base hit in the fourth, then picked the runner off at first before setting down the final three batters he faced in the fifth.
The MLB stars picked up another run in the sixth when Altuve doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Nunez.
Randy Choate worked a perfect sixth before Ryosuke Kikuchi led off the Japan seventh with a triple to right-center and scored on a grounder by Sho Nakata off Tommy Hunter. Jose Veras worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Mark Melancon pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth to earn the save.
Altuve, who had three hits in Sunday's game, finished the series with a .429 batting average.
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