The scoring got started in the top of the first inning when Mike Trout of the Angels led off with a home run off NL starter Zack Greinke to give the AL a 1–0 lead. The NL tied the score in the bottom of the second when Jhonny Peralta drove in Paul Goldschmidt with an RBI single off AL starter Dallas Keuchel. In the top of the fifth, Prince Fielder, who was pinch-hitting for Nelson Cruz, hit a go-ahead RBI single that scored Trout to give the AL a 2–1 lead off Dodgers ace, Clayton Kershaw. The next batter, Lorenzo Cain, hit an RBI double to score Albert Pujols to make it a 3–1 ballgame. In the bottom of the sixth, Andrew McCutchen homered off Chris Archer to make it a one-run game. In the top of the seventh, Trout walked and was lifted for pinch-runner, Brock Holt, who scored on an RBI double by Manny Machado to give the AL a 4–2 lead. Machado then scored on a sac fly by Fielder to make it a 5–2 game. In the top of the eighth inning, the Twins Brian Dozier hit a solo home run to make it a 6–2 ballgame.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Braun led off with a triple to right field off of Twins closer, Glen Perkins, then scored on a sac fly by Brandon Crawford to make it a 6–3 score. The next batter, Cubs rookie, Kris Bryant flied out to right for the second out and finally, Joe Panik lined out to left field to seal the AL's third straight victory and earn home-field advantage in the World Series. After hitting the homer run and scoring two runs, Mike Trout of the Angels walked away with his 2nd straight MVP award.
During the course of this baseball game, a few things stood out to me. One is that Mike Trout is, for lack of a better word, the best player in the game today. He lead off the game with a home run, making it an unofficial record. In the four games that Trout has played, he has hit for a single, double, triple and home run in his first at bat in each game. That's pretty impressive. It's no surprise that he took home MVP awards for the 2nd straight year. Another surprise from the American League side was the play of Prince Fielder. The big man is making a strong case for comeback player of the year, after missing most of last season due to a neck injury. This year, he's having a fine season, and even though it doesn't count, he was still able to drive in a pair of runs for the AL coming off the bench. From the mound, the best performance has to go to Jacob DeGrom of the New York Mets. All he did was strike out the side in his inning of work. He struck out Stephen Vogt, Jason Kipnis and José Iglesias. Oh yeah, he needed only ten pitches to do it. TEN. That's a pretty impressive body of work for one inning. Most people who haven't gotten the chance to watch him yet, realized why he won the Rookie of the Year in the National League last season.
With those guys having solid games in the midsummer classic, two others had outings that weren't as memorable. First is Bryce Harper. Don't get me wrong, when the lights are usually on bright, Harper comes up in the big spot. The All-Star game, not so much. Harper went 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts. I don't think its going to matter much to a guy like Harper, who is having an MVP type season for the Nationals, but he has yet to pick up a hit in the All-Star game in his career. Another guy who had a rough night in the game was Clayton Kershaw. The current Cy Young and MVP award winners in the National League got roughed up in the one inning he pitched. He wasn't chosen for the squad originally, but made the team as a last-minute sub. Then he came into a 1-1 game in the fifth inning and let in the go-ahead run and one more. He took the loss for the NL.
As far as the New York teams go, there was quite a bit of representation at the game. For the Yankees, Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner went a combined 0 for 4 at the plate with three strikeouts. Dellin Betances was the only Yankee pitcher, tossing one inning of work walking one and striking out one, while allowing zero runs or hits. Jake DeGrom was the lone Met and it took just ten pitches to strike out the side in the 6th inning.
All time There have been two ties, with the National League winning 43 times, and the American League winning 41 times. The National League has won just three times since 1997.
No comments:
Post a Comment