American League wins 8th consecutive All-Star Game as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads next generation

A passing rain shower during batting practice were the only dark clouds on Tuesday for the 91st MLB All-Star Game won by the American League, 5-2. 

And while the three home runs hit during the affair seem paltry in comparison to the 309 hit during the previous night’s Home Run Derby, there was still traffic on the base paths and magnificent matchups with pitchers coming out on top most often. 

The game opened with NL starter Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals against Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani with the one known as Mad Max as the victor. In the bottom of the first, it was Ohtani’s turn to prevail, inducing a fly ball from the equally electric Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres.

Aaron Judge scored the first run for the AL in the second inning, reaching base on a walk by Milwaukee Brewers’ Corbin Burnes, advancing to third base on Boston Red Sox Rafael Devers’ double before touching home on a single by Toronto Blue Jays’ Marcus Semien.

It was all the run support needed by the visitors who won for the eighth consecutive time over the NL, earning Ohtani the win and sticking Burnes with the loss. 

In the third, Burnes gave up a homer to Semien’s teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr., making the 22-year-old the youngest player to go yard in the All-Star Game. He and his father become just the third father-and-son duo to hit a home run in the Midsummer Classic, joining Barry and his father Bobby Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr. 

The 468ft blast from Guerrero Jr. was the 200th in the contest’s history, earning him the Ted Williams Award for the game’s most valuable player, becoming the youngest to win the honor.

Germán Márquez tossed a clean inning, striking out fellow Venezuelan Salvador Pérez of the Minnesota Twins to punctuate the final out of the fourth.

The Junior Circuit added two more runs in the fifth off Miami Marlins’ Trevor Rogers before the NL would finally score a run, a solo shot by Philadelphia Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto, the first by a Phil since Mike Schmidt in 1981.

Despite having the bases loaded twice in the sixth and eighth-inning with Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant at the plate, the National League failed to converge for any runs. Angels’ Jared Walsh, primarily a first baseman, made a sliding grab to bail out Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes from the jam. 

In the ninth, Brewers’ Omar Narváez reached on an infield single, an unlikely scenario for any catcher. A passed ball got past opposing backstop Mike Zunino of the Tampa Bay Rays and ricocheted off the bricks, setting up for an easy caught stealing for the first out of the frame.

Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies legged out a two-out double, but Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks shut the door all while being mic’d up for the audience watching on FOX.