*Photo from Draft Kings*
The all star game is a contest of the top talent in the American League and the top talent in the National League. However, it has been entirely one sided for a bit of time. Mike Zunino homered, Vladimir Guerrero Jr homered, and the AL beat the NL 5-2 on Tuesday night's all star game.
Despite the talent on both sides, the all star game has been one sided in recent memory. The AL has not lost since the 2012 all star game, having won the last 8 competitions. The AL had also won 7 straight all star games between 2003-2009, before the NL won 3 in a row in 2010, 2011, and 2012. NL manager Dave Roberts has been on the losing side all 3 times he's managed the game.
Roberts said about the talent level in baseball today that "There’s more talent, one through 850 or 900 ballplayers, than there’s ever been. And it’s kind of sided toward the young players. There’s just so many superstars, so much talent. Me as a guy who has been around for a bit, you have to embrace it."
For the AL, their offense came through the AL East this time around. Marcus Semien got the AL started in the second inning, with an RBI single to score Aaron Judge and make it 1-0. Guerrero made it a 2-0 lead in the 3rd with a towering solo homer to left field. In the 5th, Teoscar Hernandez scored on a Guerrero groundout, and Xander Bogaerts laced an RBI single to right field, and it was a 4-0 AL lead. Zunino then hit an opposite field solo homer in the 6th to make it a 5-1 game at the time.
For the NL, they didn't manage to score until they had already fallen behind 4-0. It was Phillies catcher JT Realmuto who got them started with a solo homer to center field, cutting the deficit to 4-1 at the time. They cut the lead to 5-2 in the 6th, when Manny Machado scored on a passed ball. However, that was all the NL could muster.
Shohei Ohtani was the starting pitcher and leadoff hitter for the AL, and he got the win, throwing a quick, 1-2-3 first inning in his first all star game. After Ohtani departed, on came the chorus of pitchers selected to the all star game. Lance Lynn pitched the second inning, Kyle Gibson the 3rd, Nathan Eovaldi the 4th, Gregory Soto the 5th, Chris Bassitt got the 6th, Andrew Kittredge pitched the 7th, Matt Barnes worked the 8th, and Liam Hendriks got the save in the 9th inning.
Ohtani said of pitching and hitting in his first all star game, through an interpreter, that "This has been the best experience, most memorable. Obviously, I’ve never played in the playoffs or World Series, so once I do that, that’s probably going to surpass it. But this has been the most memorable."
Max Scherzer got the start for the NL, throwing a scoreless first inning. After that, Corbin Burnes got stuck with the loss, giving up two runs in two innings pitched. After Scherzer and Burnes, Roberts sent in German Marquez, Trevor Rogers, Taijuan Walker, Freddy Peralta, Mark Melancon, Alex Reyes, Craig Kimbrel, and Zack Wheeler to pitch.
Most of baseball resumes play on Friday to cap off the all star break, but the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees start a day earlier, beginning a 4 game series on Thursday night. Eduardo Rodriguez starts for Boston, while the Yankees haven't named a starter.
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