NL ends 2nd-longest drought in ASG history

When the Nationwide League pulled out a dramatic 3-2 victory over the American League within the 2023 All-Star Recreation at Seattle’s T-Cell Park on Tuesday evening, it snapped the AL’s run of 9 consecutive wins. That was the second-longest streak in All-Star Recreation historical past (which works again to 1933), behind an 11-game burst by the NL from 1972-82.

The dominance went past that, too, with the AL holding a 27-6-1 report since 1988, after the NL began out 41-16-1. However now the NL has put its foot down with its first All-Star Recreation victory since 2012 at Kansas Metropolis’s Kauffman Stadium, an 8-0 blowout.

One little bit of symmetry? The profitable pitcher in 2012 was the Giants’ Matt Cain, and the profitable pitcher on Tuesday was the Giants’ Camilo Dovalwho tossed a scoreless seventh inning. These are the one two Giants to be the profitable pitcher within the All-Star Recreation since Vida Blue did it in 1981.

• Rockies catcher Elias Diaz — a 32-year-old in his first All-Star plate look — modified the sport together with his two-run homer within the prime of the eighth inning, turning a 2-1 deficit right into a 3-2 lead that grew to become the ultimate rating. It was the primary time an NL participant had hit a go-ahead homer within the eighth inning or later since Jeff Conine broke a 2-2 tie with an eighth-inning solo shot in 1995. The final NL participant to do it together with his crew trailing got here in a battle of Corridor of Famers between Mike Schmidt and Rollie Fingers within the eighth inning of the 1981 Midsummer Basic.

• Total, Díaz grew to become the sixth participant in All-Star Recreation historical past to hit a go-ahead homer whereas trailing within the eighth or later. He follows Hank Blalock (AL, 2003), Schmidt (NL, 1981), Cookie Rojas (AL, 1972), Gus Bell (NL, 1954) and Ted Williams (AL, 1941, in walk-off vogue).

• Not solely did Díaz belt the game-changing homer, however he did it off Orioles nearer Félix Bautista, who struck out two batters per inning within the first half, with a 1.07 ERA. Díaz did it on a 2-2 splitter. Opponents are 9-for-112 (.080) with one homer and 84 strikeouts in two-strike counts this season in opposition to Bautista, who has allowed simply three lengthy balls in 152 plate appearances ending on splitters in his regular-season profession.

• For his efforts, Díaz was named All-Star Game MVPmaking him the primary Rockies participant to earn that honor. He’s the sixth catcher to win the award, after Brian McCann (2010), Sandy Alomar Jr. (1997), Mike Piazza (1996), Terry Steinbach (1988) and Gary Carter (1981, ‘84).

• With the Rockies getting on the board, 26 of the 30 franchises have now had a participant win All-Star Recreation MVP because the award was first handed out in 1962. The 4 nonetheless searching for one are the Cardinals, D-backs, Tigers and White Sox.

(The opposite) Díaz goes deep

• Elias wasn’t the one Díaz to go away the yard Tuesday evening in Seattle. The Rays’ Yandy Diaz opened the scoring with a solo homer off Mitch Keller within the second inning. He grew to become the third Tampa Bay participant to homer within the All-Star Recreation, becoming a member of Mike Zunino (2021) and Carl Crawford (2007).

• Tuesday marked the primary time two gamers with the identical final identify have homered in the identical All-Star Recreation, per STATS.

• Luis Arraezwho spent the primary half chasing a .400 seasonsaved proper on going within the All-Star Recreation. In each of his plate appearances, the NL’s starting second baseman jumped on the primary pitch he noticed to knock base hits off Nathan Eovaldi and George Kirby. His second hit drove within the tying run within the fourth inning. Going again to 1988, the primary yr for which pitch counts are full, Arraez is the one participant with a multihit All-Star Recreation who bought successful on each pitch he noticed.

• Moreover Arraez, the one different gamers with a number of first-pitch hits in a single All-Star Recreation since 1988 are Lorenzo Cain for the AL in 2015, Derek Jeter for the AL in 2000 and Lance Johnson for the NL in 1996.

• Arraez grew to become the fourth Marlin with a multihit All-Star Recreation, becoming a member of Hanley Ramirez in 2008, Mike Lowell in 2002 and Gary Sheffield in 1993.

• Throughout that scoreless seventh inning, Doval threw eight pitches clocked at 100-plus mph, turning into simply the third pitcher within the pitch-tracking period (since 2008) to throw eight or extra pitches that quick within the All-Star Recreation. Ryan Helsley threw eight heaters at 100-plus mph in final yr’s recreation, whereas Aroldis Chapman threw 13 within the 2015 contest.

• The spotlight of Doval’s inning got here in a showdown in opposition to hometown favourite Julio Rodríguez of the Mariners. A five-pitch battle that featured 4 pitches over 100 mph and three over 101 mph culminated with Doval whiffing J-Rod on a 1-2 cutter above the zone. The 101.2 mph heater tied for the fourth-fastest All-Star Recreation strikeout pitch within the pitch-tracking period, behind solely three choices from Chapman in 2015 (103.4 mph, 103.2 mph and 101.5 mph).

• J.D. Martinez went 2-for-2 with a double, turning into the primary Dodger with a multihit All-Star Recreation since Mike Piazza in 1996. Solely 10 Dodgers have had two or extra hits in a single Midsummer Basic; Steve Garvey did it thrice.

• Talking of Dodgers, Will Smith swiped the one stolen base of the sport, taking second within the eighth inning in opposition to former teammate Kenley Jansen. He grew to become solely the third catcher in All-Star Recreation historical past to steal a bag, following Iván Rodríguez (1998) and Tony Peña (1982).

• However, each beginning catchers (the NL’s Sean Murphy and the AL’s Jonah Heim) threw out a runner making an attempt to steal. Murphy’s caught-stealing was the All-Star Recreation’s first since Alex Avila nabbed Lance Berkman on a strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out double play in 2011. This was the primary ASG with a number of caught stealing performs since 2008 (by catchers Dioner Navarro and Russell Martin).

• Within the All-Star Recreation, you generally see belongings you would by no means see throughout a typical recreation. One instance? The Phillies’ Nick Castellanos entered within the backside of the fifth for the NL, changing Mookie Betts in heart discipline — a place he has by no means appeared at within the Majors within the common season or postseason.

• Two hitters named Díaz homering? What about two right-handed pitchers named Grey throwing a scoreless inning within the third? Sonny bought the job completed for the AL and Josiah for the NL.

• When Eovaldi pitched the second inning for the AL, he did so in entrance of 5 beginning teammates: Heim at catcher, Marcus Semien at second base, Josh Jung at third, Corey Seager at shortstop and Adolis García in proper discipline. Texas not solely grew to become the fifth crew in ASG historical past to have five starting position players (and the primary because the 1939 Yankees), additionally they grew to become simply the third to have six players on the field at once within the Midsummer Basic. The 1939 Yankees additionally completed that feat, together with the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers.