One for the road: Santiago starts MLB All-Stars finale

Angels left-hander Hector Santiago had only pitched one inning of relief during the Major League Baseball All-Stars squad's tour of Japan, but he got his chance to start in Thursday's exhibition finale against Samurai Japan at Okinawa Cellular Stadium.

MLB manager John Farrell started Santiago, and the 26-year-old lefty gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks while striking out two over four innings. Santiago took the loss as the MLB All-Stars fell, 6-4, finishing the trip with a 3-4 record in two exhibitions and the five-game Japan All-Star Series.

Santiago, who went 6-9 with a 3.75 ERA this past season, gave up one run on one walk and two singles in the second inning, negating the MLB squad's early 1-0 lead. The unearned run came in the fourth, when some sloppy defense by the big leaguers allowed Samurai Japan to take the lead.

Santiago allowed a one-out single to Seiichi Uchikawa, then induced what could have been a double-play grounder to third base by Nobuhiro Matsuda, but Evan Longoria made a low throw to second base. That allowed Matsuda to reach safely as Uchikawa took third. Tetsuto Yamada then knocked a sacrifice fly to center field, plating Uchikawa to give Japan a 2-1 lead.

After a throwing error by Dexter Fowler, a single and a walk, Santiago struck out Japan Series MVP Yuki Yanagita to get out of the bases-loaded jam.