Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer homered and drove in two runs, Royals teammate Salvador Perez also hit a two-run homer, and the American League won its fourth consecutive All-Star Game, beating the NL 4-2 Tuesday night.
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The Phillies had just one representative, outfielder Odubel Herrera, in the game.
Trout also became the sixth player in All-Star history with four first-inning hits, joining Mays, Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter, Musial and Ichiro Suzuki.
Not a bad first All-Star Game appearance for Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, eh? He struck out looking against former Tiger Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning. Mets’ manager Terry Collins presided over the losing effort for the NL, which saw a very Mets’ like performance in the clutch, stranding 10 men on base and going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Giants catcher Buster Posey drew a one-out walk from Toronto right-hander Aaron Sanchez and came around on back-to-back singles by Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Marlins center fielder Marcell Osuna. Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton earned the save.
Three other Giants were at the All-Star Game.
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull). American League’s David Ortiz, of the Boston Red Sox, acknowledges the crowd while leaving the game during the second inning of the MLB baseball All-Star Game against the National League, Tuesday, July 12, 2016, in San Diego.
NOTES: During pregame ceremonies, Major League Baseball announced that the batting average titles for both leagues would be named for two of the modern era’s leading hitters.
San Diego is a hotbed of baseball talent. In the top of the first inning, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant hit a solo home run off AL starter Chris Sale. “I felt like a proud papa there in the second inning after those two guys gave us the lead, and I was really excited”.
The start of the game was marked by confusion on social media, as fans were thrown off by the optics of the AL team wearing white in an NL park. Bryant ambushed a first-pitch, 96 miles per hour fastball, crushing it off the facing of the upper deck in left field for a homer. He was an honored participant in this one.
In the hours before first pitch, a throng of bodies and cameras emerged from the first-base dugout in unison, pushing out toward the field. Hamels did so with eight stitches in his chin, the result of tumble he took in his hotel room at 5 a.m. The 40-year-old, a three-time World Series champion, will retire at season’s end.
If Big Papi was hoping for a big moment in his final All-Star Game, he didn’t get it. Ortiz walked against Miami’s Jose Fernandez in the third inning and was lifted for pinch-runner Edwin Encarnacion.
There were 79 players selected to this year’s All-Star Game, roughly a tenth of all current major leaguers.
Ortiz gave the AL team a motivational speech before the game.
But his team did not sputter.
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If the Washington Nationals represent the National League in the 2016 World Series, even if they were to have the best record in the game, they would not enjoy home-field advantage.
