It was a flawless portent for what happened in the actual All-Star Game a few hours later, when Hosmer launched an opposite-field home run into the Petco Park stands, hammered an RBI single, helped propel the American League to a 4-2 victory over the National League and won Hosmer All-Star Game MVP honors.
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Mike Trout, the All-Star MVP in 2014 and ’15, singled in the first for a five-All-Star Game hitting streak – only Mickey Mantle, Joe Morgan and Dave Winfield (seven each) and Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Nellie Fox (six apiece) strung together more.
Hosmer’s one-out single in the third drove in Edwin Encarnacion to give the American League a 4-1 lead.
The American League’s win was its fourth in a row, cutting the Nationals’ all-time lead to 43-42-2. “But we play for a common cause and that’s home-field advantage for the American League and guys buy into it”. The first run came off the bat of the National League’s home run leader Kris Bryant – in his first All-Star at-bat.
The count ran full before Diaz did something he rarely has done in his first half-season as a big leaguer.
The damage had already been done, however, as Cueto took the loss, with Minnesota Twins hurler Corey Kluber getting credit for a win. But a rally at the top of the eighth fizzled, and a double-play at the top of the ninth ended the game. And while it’s certainly silly in concept to allow the All-Star Game to decide home-field advantage, it doesn’t really matter enough to merit all the vitriol.
Perez’s two-run shot followed a single by Boston’s Mookie Betts.
Hosmer, who collected a pair of hits as well as RBIs, became the first Royal to homer in an All-Star Game since Bo Jackson almost three decades ago. In the past two seasons, they are 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium in the Fall Classic.
“They know Johnny. They know what he was going to do”.
“I would have loved to have that seventh game past year in San Francisco”, manager Dusty Baker said in 2003, thinking back to when his Giants lost Game 7 at Anaheim the previous fall.
“I felt like a proud papa. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that proud of two players in a moment like that”.
“So he can stop stealing all my cars, ” Hosmer said. “I just left two pitches up, and that was the story”.
No Royal had homered in an All-Star Game since Bo Jackson in 1989 when Jackson was the MVP. “My boy told me he was going to throw me nothing but fastballs”.
But the NL’s celebration and lead were relatively short-lived, because in the bottom of the second, the AL went to work.
Last year, the Royals had seven players on the All-Star squad, including third baseman Mike Moustakas, who was a victor on the final fans’ ballot for the 34th player.
“That was planned ahead of time”, Yost said.
“It was really, really hard not to put him in that final vote”, said Yost. “It is fun when you can play this game and feel like a kid again”. That kind of left “Hos” out in the cold. However, I didn’t even reach double figures, which I think goes to show how disinterested Diamondbacks’ fans generally were in this.
The Detroit Tigers’ lone representative, first baseman Miguel Cabrera, went 0-for-1. The AL has won four straight All-Star Games. “So that was a cool moment, I thought”. The 87th All-Star Game gave the two Central Divisions a chance to shine.
Randy Jones threw out the ceremonial first pitch and former Padres All-Star closer Trevor Hoffman helped open, bringing the game ball to the mound from the bullpen accompanied by AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells”.
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NL manager Terry Collins used all his position players and at least one player or pitcher from every team but his own. Neither came to pass.
