Tuesday night in San Diego, the AL beat the NL by the score of 4-2 in the 2016 All-Star Game. That means the Yankees will have home field advantage when they reach the World Series in a few months. A bunch of Royals led the way offensively. Eric Hosmer hit a solo homer and Salvador Perez hit a two-run shot. They both went deep off former teammate Johnny Cueto in the second inning. The AL has won four straight All-Star Games and 16 of the last 20.
The Yankees sent three players to the All-Star Game and all three played, albeit briefly. Carlos Beltran came off the bench and took over in right field in the top of the sixth inning. He flew out to center field against Max Scherzer in the bottom half of that inning, then was replaced by Michael Saunders in the field in the top of the eighth. A short night for him, but that’s fine given his still not 100% hamstring. It’s not like Beltran is lacking All-Star Game experience.
Dellin Betances entered the game with a two-run lead in the seventh inning, so it was a familiar spot for him. He struck out Corey Seager swinging with a fastball, gave up a ground ball single through the right side of the infield to Daniel Murphy, got Paul Goldschmidt to fly out to center, then struck out Nolan Arenado swinging with another fastball. Betances threw 15 pitches and topped out at 101.1 mph per Pitch FX. Dellin being Dellin.
One inning later, Andrew Miller made his All-Star Game debut with a two-run lead. He got Brandon Belt to fly out to left, gave up a line drive single to Jonathan Lucroy, struck out Jay Bruce with a slider, gave up a line drive single to Starling Marte, then walked Adam Duvall to load the bases. Not the best night for Miller, who threw 28 pitches. Ned Yost replaced him with Will Harris, who struck out Aledmys Diaz to strand all three runners. Good job by Miller getting the rare rough outing out of his system in an exhibition game. What a teammate.
A few ex-Yankees playing in the All-Star Game as well. Robinson Cano drew a walk in his only plate appearance and was replaced by Eduardo Nunez for defense in the top of the ninth. Defensive Replacement Eduardo Scissorhands. What a world. Mark Melancon walked a batter and got a ground out in his one-third of an inning. Bartolo Colon was on the NL roster but did not appear in the game. Mets skipper Terry Collins said he was holding him back in case there were extra innings.
Here are the box score, video highlights, and WPA graph for the All-Star Game. Hosmer was named MVP after going 2-for-3 with a homer and 2 RBI. Now that that’s out of the way, we can get back to regular season baseball. The Yankees begin the second half Friday night at home, with the first of three against the Red Sox. Michael Pineda and Eduardo Rodriguez are the scheduled starters. But first, two more off-days. Enjoy ’em.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.