The American League took down the National League, 4-3, in the 90th MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Indians right-hander Shane Bieber (one inning; struck out the side) was named the game’s most valuable player.
Two New York Mets had solid evenings. Metsies first baseman Pete Alonso went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and right-hander Jacob deGrom pitched a perfect third inning — more on both below. Jeff McNeil went 0-for-1.
Thirty-six-year-old right-hander Justin Verlander pitched a perfect top of the first for the American League, striking out Cubs shortstop Javier Baez and Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman, both falling victim to impeccably-placed, two-strike 88 MPH sliders.
Dodgers’ left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu started the game for the National League, allowing a leadoff single to Astros right-fielder George Springer — who made his way to third with two outs — but induced a weak groundball via hometown favorite, first-baseman Carlos Santana to escape the frame.
Pittsburgh slugger Josh Bell, the NL’s designated hitter (has a nice ring to it, no?), notched his squad’s first base hit, a two-out single off Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka in the second, but was left stranded.
Clayton Kershaw allowed an extremely hard hit base hit to Alex Bregman (99.4 MPH exit velocity) with one out in the second then gave up a searing RBI double (98 MPH EV) into the left-center gap to former Indians standout and current Astros All-Star, Michael Brantley, staking the AL to a 1-0 lead.
Minnesota right-hander Jose Berrios retired Ronald Acuna Jr. and Yelich via strikeout then got Baez to fly out, leaving the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte stranded after a leadoff double in the top of the third.
Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom put forth another elite All-Star performance, needing just seven pitches to retire George Springer, DJ LeMahieu, and All-World Angels outfielder, Mike Trout in a perfect the bottom half of the third.
DeGrom spoke to SNY after his flawless frame.
“Any time you get to go face the best, that’s what you’re here for. That’s what you want to do,” deGrom said. “I saw it was going to be those three guys and I was looking forward to it […] I was looking forward to the challenge.”
Lucas Giolito issued a leadoff walk to Freeman in the fourth, but the White Sox breakout star left him stranded, mowing down Bellinger, Arenado, and Bell in the process.
Cincinnati right-hander Luis Castillo struck out Santana on a 98 MPH four-seamer and Martinez on an 88 MPH changeup, both swinging, before inducing a 6-3 groundout via Bregman in his clean inning of work.
Shane Bieber, Cleveland right-hander, took the ball for the AL in the top of the fifth, entering to a raucous ovation from the home crowd and proceeded to strike out the side (Willson Contreras, Marte, and Acuna), kicking things up a few more decibels. Outstanding stuff.
Yankees backstop Gary Sanchez smoked a leadoff double down the left-field line (110.2 MPH EV) to welcome Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler into the game in the fifth and Jorge Polanco brought him home with a one-out RBI infield single, giving the AL a 2-0 lead.
Buehler struck out Francisco Lindor and Gleyber Torres, both swinging (knuckle curve and slider, respectively), to leave Polanco on base and limit the damage.
Oakland righty Liam Hendriks struck out Kris Bryant and Trevor Story to start the sixth but allowed a 101.2 MPH exit velocity solo home run to Rockies outfielder, Charlie Blackmon, putting the NL on the board and cutting the AL’s lead to 2-1.
Mets phenom and 2019 Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso came to the plate as the tying run later in the frame but went down swinging at a 97 MPH four-seamer via Hendriks.
Atlanta’s rookie right-hander, Mike Soroka, benefitted from a terrific stretch at first base via Alonso after second-baseman Mike Moustakas nabbed Santana’s grounder into the outfield grass in his perfect sixth inning.
Tigers right-hander Shane Greene contributed a perfect seventh inning, setting down Moustakas, J.T. Realmuto, and Max Muncy on just 12 pitches.
Milwaukee righty Brandon Woodruff took the hill in the bottom of the seventh, walking A’s third baseman Matt Chapman and allowing a well-struck single to White Sox catcher James McCann to start his outing.
Pinch-hitter Xander Bogaerts (Boston) grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring Chapman, extending the AL’s lead to 3-1, and chasing Woodruff.
That brought Giants’ left-hander Will Smith in, who gave up a first-pitch, 21-degree, 111.5 MPH EV rocket to Joey Gallo, making it a 4-1 game.
Cleveland reliever Brad Hand walked Brewers backstop Yasmani Grandal and gave up a line-drive single to David Dahl to start the eighth, bringing Mets super-utility man Jeff McNeil to the plate as the tying run, who flew out to right.
Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong drew a walk to load the bases with one out. After a Blackmon strikeout, Pete Alonso shot a single past Torres at shortstop, scoring Grandal and Dahl and cutting the AL’s lead to 4-3.
With those two RBIs, Alonso became the second Mets player to knock in two runs in an All-Star game (Lee Mazzilli, 1979).
Just for good measure, during the next at-bat, DeJong and Alonso pulled off an unchallenged — albeit uncapitalized on — double steal. With that steal, Alonso became the third player to win the Home Run Derby and steal a base in the All-Star game (Eric Davis, 1989; Ken Griffey Jr., 1998).
We have ourselves a star, Mets fans.
Gleyber Torres barely beat out an infield hit off Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara after a terrific throw from the seat of Moustakas’ pants to lead off the bottom of the eighth, but the young Miami hurler retired Whit Merrifield (swinging strikeout) and Jose Abreu to leave him stranded.
Down by a run in the top of the ninth and facing Yankees’ fireballer Aroldis Chapman, Realmuto and Muncy both went down swinging.
In a wonderful gesture, AL manager Dave Roberts sent retiring left-hander CC Sabathia to the mound to “check on” Chapman, inciting a terrific ovation from the Cleveland faithful.
Chapman then struck out Grandal to secure the AL’s victory.
