Pacific League elder statesman Seiichi Uchikawa scored the tying run and singled in the go-ahead run in a 6-2 NPB All-Star Series Game 1 victory over the Central League on Friday.
Before 36,111 at Nagoya Dome, the 34-year-old Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks star tied the game after reaching on a seventh-inning pinch-hit single and then singled in the game-winner in the eighth. Uchikawa's two singles earned him the game MVP Award despite three teammates each getting two hits including a home run.
Uchikawa entered the game to bat for young superstar Shohei Otani, who had gone 0-for-2.