Atsunori Inaba may have crashed Yoshinori Sato's homecoming party, but at least he did it in style.
The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters veteran homered, drove in three runs and finished a triple short of hitting for the cycle to help the Pacific League beat the Central League 5-0 in the final game of this year's All-Star Series.
"Everyone here has been working so hard," Inaba said of the crowd of 21,347, many of whom were affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. "I feel like I also was able to work hard. I'm glad I was able to play today."