“It’s extremely humbling. Honestly I was just so happy to be a part of all this and to be part of the team and make the All-Star Game for the first time”.
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After AL starter Chris Sale gave up a homer to Chicago crosstown rival Kris Bryant, the AL’s pitching staff largely shut down the NL.
That is a sentence I hope I get to write again in a couple of weeks when the Cubs play the White Sox.
Hosmer’s solo home run started a three-run second inning against Johnny Cueto, who helped the Royals win the World Series last fall for first time since 1985. Let’s hope the Cubs can hit Cueto that hard when the Giants visit Wrigley Field in September.
National Basketball Association all-star game (TNT/TBS): 4.3 rating, 7.6 million viewers (flat in ratings, up 6 per cent in viewership from 2015).
The increase “takes place against the backdrop where Major League Baseball does 22,000 drug tests a year”, he said.
After the game resumed, the teams went back and forth without scoring.
“I wouldn’t say there’s urgency”, said Merrifield, whose fine play at second base allowed the Royals to jettison underperforming veteran Omar Infante. And, Bryant became the youngest player to homer in the exhibition since David Wright in 2006 at Pittsburgh. He added an RBI single in the third inning. The Yankees’ Dellin Betances flashed his 100 miles per hour heat, and Astros reliever Will Harris came on to throw a called third strike past Cardinals rookie Aledmys Diaz on a 3-2 pitch on the outside corner with the bases loaded to end the eighth. Miguel Cabrera, the two-time MVP whose Detroit Tigers are nearly even with the Royals in the AL Central, went up to Yost and told him he didn’t want to come into the game until after Hosmer’s third at-bat because it might seal the MVP award.
Hosmer grounded out and Cabrera entered in the seventh as a defensive replacement.
Before the game, Royals manager Ned Yost told the AL team of the importance of earning home-field. So it was up to Jon Lester to represent the Cubs on the mound. Of course, some of these picks are well-deserved, but even those who aren’t sabermetrically inclined should question how shortstop Addison Russell deserves the starting spot over his LA Dodger counterpart Corey Seager. After the error, Lester walked Robinson Cano and then got a groundout and a fly ball to left, upon which Collins removed him in favor of Mark Melancon.
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After Andrew Miller departed with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning, Astros pitcher Will Harris came in to face Cardinals infielder Aledmys Diaz with the bases loaded and two outs. The Red Sox begin the second half Friday night in the steamy Bronx. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain is also on the disabled list after straining his hamstring trying to leg out a single.
