Major League Baseball

MLB All-Stars no-hit by four pitchers in Japan Series

Published Nov. 15, 2014 6:53 a.m. ET

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The Major League Baseball All-Star team not only lost Game 3 of the Japan Series, it was no-hit by four pitchers in the 4-0 loss.

Takahiro Norimoto struck out six in five perfect innings, then gave way to Japan's bullpen, which pitched the final four frames.

"It's too good to be true," Norimoto said. "I wanted to see how my pitches would work against MLB hitters. The fact that my teammate (Motohiro) Shima was catching made me feel at ease and I was able to perform as usual. The atmosphere at the park was really nice. It was the best outing of my career."

Per a report from MLB.com, Yuki Nishi allowed a sixth-inning walk to Mets first baseman Lucas Duda that broke up a perfect-game bid, but he did not allow a hit, nor did Kazuhisa Makita and Yuji Nishino. In all, the MLB All-Stars had four baserunners (three walks and a hit batsman), but could not plate a run.

Hayato Sakamoto and Sho Nakata both hit two-run home runs off MLB starter Jeremy Guthrie. Sakamoto hit his in the second, and Nakata went deep in the third. Guthrie picked up the loss after giving up four runs on five hits in five innings.

Norimoto went 14-10 with a 3.02 ERA for the Rakuten Eagles this season.

"The story tonight was in the hit column with a zero on it," MLB manager John Farrell said. "Norimoto was outstanding. He was very efficient. He has a powerful fastball and very good late action to go with his split, his slider and cutter."

The MLB All-Stars have lost the first three games of this five-game set, with Game 4 set for Sunday.

Robinson Cano left Saturday's game after being hit by a pitch on his right foot in the seventh inning. The injury was diagnosed as a broken pinkie toe, which will sideline the Seattle Mariners infielder 3-4 weeks.

The MLB All-Stars won an exhibition game 8-7 before the start of the series but have scored just four runs over the first three games of the series.

Chris Capuano will pitch Game 4 while Shintaro Fujinami will take the mound for Japan.

"We will visit with our coaching staff and try to come up with a lineup that has the ability to go up against Fujinami, who we know is a very good pitcher," Farrell said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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