Power outage
Pitchers reclaim glory as AL wins
CLEVELAND — For one night, the pitchers took back the power.
Hours after a Home Run Derby that had many people buzzing even louder about monster shots and juiced balls, only a couple flew out of Progressive Field on Tuesday.
Instead, Justin Verlander blazed 97 mph heat, Shane Bieber and Aroldis Chapman each struck out the side, and the American League slowed a loaded National League lineup 4-3 for its seventh consecutive victory in the All-Star Game.
“I know it’s the year of the home run, but pitching dominated today,” Colorado slugger Nolan Arenado said.
Facing Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger and a bunch of boppers, the AL staff combined to strike out 16.
During Monday’s Home Run Derby, 312 home runs cleared the walls. On Tuesday, it was time for the pitchers to shine.
Derby champ Pete Alonso of the Mets grounded a two-out, two-run single past Gleyber Torres in the eighth to close the NL’s gap to 4-3. After a double steal put runners at second and third against Cleveland reliever Brad Hand, White Sox catcher James McCann (Arkansas Razorbacks) made a tumbling
catch on Mike Moustakas’ foul pop to end the inning.
Chapman closed out the game in the ninth to give the AL its 19th victory in 22 games, with a tie stuck in there. He got a little encouragement with two outs — Yankees teammate CC Sabathia, honored this week for his contributions on and off the field, strolled to the mound to talk to the flamethrower.
Chapman then struck out Yasmani Grandal for a save, giving the AL an overall 45-43-2 lead in the Midsummer Classic.
Major League Baseball is on a record-shattering pace for home runs this season, but no one came close to clearing the walls until Charlie Blackmon connected in the NL sixth inning to make it 2-1. Texas’ Joey Gallo countered with a solo drive in a two-run seventh inning as the AL grabbed a 4-1 edge.
Still, it was a far cry from last year’s All-Star Game that featured a record 10 home runs.
Cleveland favorite Michael Brantley had an early RBI double off losing pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Jorge Polanco drove in a run with an infield single for a 2-0 edge in the fifth, and another scored on a double-play grounder in the seventh.
“I wanted to swing the bat early. I had some nervous jitters I wanted to get out,” Brantley said.
Winning pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, Lucas Giolito and Shane Greene did their parts to protect the lead with scoreless innings.
“I kind of expected it, to be honest,” Cubs slugger Kris Bryant said. “You only see them once, so they have the advantage.
“There are a lot of hard throwers and great pitchers over there. Unless you’ve seen them before, it’s a difficult matchup.”
Bieber earned the MVP award in front of a home crowd, striking out Willson Contreras, Ketel Marte and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the fifth with a 1-0 lead.
“It was electric out there, the fans got in it, and it was fun,” AL Manager Alex Cora of the Red Sox said. “And I’m glad that he got the MVP. He plays at this level. He’s really good.”
Fittingly, the first batter of the game was the guy who leads the majors in home runs — Yelich, the NL MVP with 31 home runs at the break.
Yelich lined out, and Verlander quickly fanned Javier Baez and Freddie Freeman to finish his work.
Baez came up again in the third with a bright red bat, stepped out of the box and playfully waved to his pal Francisco Lindor in the AL dugout.
NL starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, Mets ace Jacob de Grom and Luis Castillo threw scoreless innings to keep the NL close in the early going.
The National League rolled out the youngest starting lineup in All-Star history, with the NL crew averaging under 26 years old.
Overall, there were 36 first-timers, a number boosted by the absence of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Jose Altuve and several past perennials.
Of the 16 AL pitchers on the 2017 All-Star roster, zero made the roster this year.
All players wore a uniform patch with No. 45 to honor late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Los Angeles teammates Mike Trout and Tommy La Stella switched their jerseys to Skaggs’ number, and there was a pregame moment of silence. Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room before the Angels were to play the Texas Rangers on July 1.