MLB All-Stars vs. Samurai Japan: Game 5 Score and Reaction for 2014 Japan Series

The MLB All-Stars put the finishing touches on a stronger finish to their Japanese tour on Tuesday, beating Samurai Japan 3-1 to seal back-to-back victories over their hosts. 

The titans of Major League Baseball nevertheless slump to a 3-2 championship defeat after five games, though, with the official MLB Twitter account confirming the scoreline:

After enjoying a magnificent rookie season with the Los Angeles Angels, Matt Shoemaker had a stern display from the mound on Tuesday in what was just his second outing of the trip.

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

Shoemaker recorded five scoreless innings and gave up only two hits to his opponents in Game 5, ensuring his teammates didn't need to hit the same scoring heights of their 6-1 triumph in Game 4 on Sunday.

However, CBS' Jon Heyman couldn't help but question the pedigree of this MLB squad, many of whom he pointed out have never actually been all-stars:

However, the New York Mets' Lucas Duda and Kansas City Royals shortstop Alides Escobar did their part to prove that doubt wrong, scoring to give the All-Stars a 2-0 lead at the top of the third inning.

Jose Altuve—who had an impressive turn-out in Sunday's victory—did his part to give the advantage, grounding out to shortstop and creating the openings for Duda and Escobar to advance.

Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

The MLB representatives would show further promise in loading the bases with Yasiel Puig, Justin Morneau and Evan Longoria, but Shohei Otani was proving a difficult obstacle to overcome. The Samurai pitcher had struck out Puig, Morneau and Longoria in the first inning, accounting for half of his seven total strike-outs in Tuesday's drama.

As Anthony DiComo of MLB.com attests, however, Duda did stand up to the 20-year-old's cannon en route to an early double:

Otani allowed just two runs in the All-Stars' third innings, surrendering a collective of just six hits in his four innings altogether.

As well as being the second consecutive win for the MLB All-Stars, this was the second game in a row that the stars of Nippon Professional Baseball had been limited to just two runs.

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Baseball's spectators will undoubtedly be left impressed by the early fashion in which Samurai were able to seal their series triumph, and anticipation now inevitably builds further as we inch to the beginning of the 2015 season.

However, as Heyman hinted, there may be questions asked of the roster sent to face Japan's titans, and fans may well ponder whether a higher-quality cast could have secured greater success on foreign soil.