The American League has won 22 of the last 28 All-Star decisions and hasn’t been even with the NL since 1971.
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The victory gives the AL home-field advantage in this year’s World Series, something that served the Royals well last October.
“We’ve been here before, ” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said.
It was Hosmer who ripped a home run leading off the second inning, the first by a Royals player in an All-Star Game since Bob Jackson in 1989.
The lead was short-lived, with Hosmer and Perez going deep for a 3-1 lead in the second, sandwiched around Mookie Betts’ single.
Hosmer and Perez became the eighth pair of teammates to homer in the same All-Star Game and first since Ortiz and Manny Ramirez of Boston in 2004.
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.
“I would have loved to be able to get them out, but I just left two pitches up”, Cueto said through a translator. When you make a mistake in the big leagues, you pay the price. Moments later, Salvador Perez, Cueto’s former batterymate, untied it with a two-run homer that would hold up for a 4-2 American League victory. It’s huge for us in Kansas City.
National League’s Odubel Herrera, of the Philadelphia Phillies, hits during the MLB baseball All-Star Game, Tuesday in San Diego.
“We believe in ourselves as a team, ” Hosmer said. The AL turned to its bullpen during the second half of the game.
There was a home run on the game’s fourth pitch for the second straight year; Bryant connected on a 96 miles per hour Chris Sale fastball with two outs as hitters swung early in the count to beat the shadows creeping in from the left-field corner in the late-afternoon start.
Cueto fired a scoreless first, but he fell apart in the second inning, causing more stress for Collins only nine months after helping the Royals beat the Mets in last year’s World Series. He walked and scored in his other plate appearance.
“I think that Oakland is more likely than not to be a better market five years from now than it is today”, Manfred said. “I’m just glad I got in there”. Despite the fact that “Big Papi” reached the All-Star break leading the majors in extra-base hits, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs batted in and OPS – an unprecedented farewell at 40 – Ortiz said there will be no temptation to come back for another go-round. Dellin Betances of the New York Yankees worked around one hit to blank the NL in the seventh.
Ortiz was swamped by fans and media since he arrived into town Sunday night, drove to the beach, and spending the rest of the evening trying to convince his family why they won’t be moving to San Diego after he retires. Then, his one-hopper off Kris Bryant‘s left arm on a pitch from Jose Fernandez in the third made it 4-1.
Edwin Encarnacion replaced Ortiz as a pinch runner, and Ortiz walked off to a standing ovation as the AL dugout emptied to greet him.
“It seems like they’re coming from a factory, the way I see they’re prepared”, Ortiz said. You had to work hard to get here.
– Who says all the best players wind up on the coasts?
“All I’ll be focusing on now is getting through this year, and making sure we play really well the rest of this season”.
Ortiz didn’t get the opportunity to face his old friend, and fellow 40-something-old Bartolo Colon, but it was perhaps only fitting that his final All-Star plate appearance was against Fernandez.
In his second All-Star game, Cueto didn’t survive the second inning. “So that was a cool moment”.
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“They know Johnny. They know what he was going to do”. He means a lot to the game of baseball. “You see all your boys”.
