TOKYO -- Leadoff hitter Yuki Yanagita drove in four runs to lead Japan to an 8-4 win over the Major League Baseball All-Stars on Friday in the second game of the five-match series.
Yanagita singled, doubled, and tripled at Tokyo Dome.
"Yanagita has a lot of bat speed," MLB manager John Farrell said. "He's aggressive and whether it is against a left-handed pitcher or a right-handed pitcher he has swung the bat very well, so he's an impressive offensive player."
Yanagita's two-run triple to center in the second inning put Japan 3-0 up.
The All-Stars cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the second when National League batting champion Justin Morneau connected for a two-run homer off Japanese starter Chihiro Kaneko.
Ben Zobrist tripled down the right field line and scored on Jose Altuve's grounder to third to tie the game at 3-3 in the third.
Yanagita's RBI single in the fourth made it 4-3.
Nobuhiro Matsuda led off the eighth with a solo homer off former teammate Tsuyoshi Wada, to give Japan a 7-3 lead. Yanagita added a run when his double to center scored Hikaru Itoh.
The All-Stars, who lost the first game 2-0, got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Zobrist doubled to left and scored on Robinson Cano's single, but Tomomi Takahashi retired the side in the ninth to seal the win.
Kaneko earned the win after giving up three runs on three hits over five innings.
MLB starter Hisashi Iwakuma took the loss after allowing five runs on 10 hits in four innings, striking out four.
Morneau said the All-Stars were still determined to win the series.
"You want to represent MLB well," Morneau said. "Whether we're playing basketball or checkers against my wife, in the end it comes down to wanting to win. We're here to win the series. We know what we are up against so we'll try to come out tomorrow and hit the ball we so we can win the next game and go from there."
Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie will start Game 3 on Saturday, while Takahiro Norimoto of the Rakuten Eagles will take the mound for Japan.