Sale, Scherzer are historic starters

MIAMI — Chris Sale will become the first pitcher to make consecutive All-Star starts representing different teams.

The Boston Red Sox ace will start tonight’s game for the American League, and Washington’s Max Scherzer will open for the National League.

Then with the Chicago White Sox, Sale pitched the first inning of last year’s game at San Diego and allowed a two-out home run to Kris Bryant. Sale was traded in December for top prospects.

Sale will be the 16th pitcher to make consecutive All-Star starts, the first since Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2000-01 and the first in the AL since Toronto’s Dave Stieb in 1983-84. Born in Lakeland, which is about 240 miles northwest of Miami, Sale is 11-4 with a 2.75 earned run average and a major-league-leading 178 strikeouts in 127 2/3 innings.

“All my family lives here — brothers, sisters, in-laws, parents, even my aunts and uncles and cousins,” Sale said. “So to be able to be here not too far from where I live now is nice. I can have my family, extended family come down and experience this with me.”

“At the end of the day this is something I’ll never forget,” he said. “This is something I’ll be hopefully sitting in a rocking chair when I’m 80 years old telling my grandkids and great-grandkids and things like that.”

Scherzer also will be making his second All-Star start. Then with Detroit, he pitched a perfect inning at New York’s Citi Field in 2013, when Sale followed with a pair of 1-2-3 innings and got the win. Scherzer will be the fifth pitcher to start All-Star Games for both leagues, following Vida Blue, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Johnson. Scherzer is 10-5 with a 2.10 ERA and 173 strikeouts.

Sale and Scherzer took turns complimenting each other at Monday’s announcement of the AllStar lineups.

“I love the way Chris goes out and competes. … He’ll do anything to win. He makes big-time pitches all the way — even if he takes 120 pitches. By far he’s been one of my favorite players, pitchers to watch. It’s even better to compete against him,” Scherzer said.

Sale echoed that sentiment.

“I could almost say the same thing. I don’t know if I’ve seen a guy compete as hard as he competes day in and day out,” Sale said. “The fire, the intensity, the role model he can be for kids coming up to kind of take the bull by the horns and just compete. It’s fun.”

Long before they turned pro, Sale and Scherzer both played for the La Crosse Loggers in a summer league in Wisconsin. They were there a couple of years apart.

“So that’s pretty interesting, too. We’ve had some ties for a while and played against each other for a while, too,” Sale said.

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, 14-2 with a 2.18 ERA, is ineligible to pitch in the All-Star Game because he started Sunday.

NL manager Joe Maddon’s batting order has Colorado center fielder Charlie Blackmon leading off, followed by Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton as the designated hitter. Washington right fielder Bryce Harper is third, followed by San Francisco catcher Buster Posey, Washington second baseman Daniel Murphy, Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado, Washington first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, Miami left fielder Marcell Ozuna and Cincinnati shortstop Zack Cozart.

Maddon said it was a “pretty easy decision” to slot Stanton as the DH.

“Looking at the breakdown of the team positionally, I thought to draw a DH out of the outfield was smart, or possibly a first baseman, having three outstanding first baseman,” Maddon said. “And furthermore, playing here under the circumstances I thought it was the right thing to do.”

AL manager Brad Mills will bat Houston second baseman Jose Altuve leadoff, followed by Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez, New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, Houston’s George Springer in left, Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, Toronto first baseman Justin Smoak, Tampa Bay designated hitter Corey Dickerson, Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez and Boston’s Mookie Betts in center.

Judge tops the majors with 30 home runs and is among the leaders in several other hitting categories. Mills said he wanted to see the rookie bat early — and figured a lot of fans did, too.

“Where was I going to hit him in the lineup? It was a situation you wanted him to hit in the first inning because of the story he’s been all year long,” Mills said.

Mills, Cleveland’s bench coach, took over as AL manager after Indians manager Terry Francona had a procedure last week to correct an irregular heartbeat.

“Getting this responsibility is very humbling,” Mills said. “I’m thrilled to be here. I definitely would love to have him sitting here in this chair.”

Note adds motivation

Judge keeps the only piece of motivation he needs on his phone.

It’s right there on his notes app, always atop the list for quick access. He looks at it every day and said he’s done so for months, letting it serve as the perfect provider of perspective.

The message: .179 — a nod to what he hit last season in his debut with the New York Yankees.

That seems unfathomable now. The Yankees star leads the majors with 30 home runs, is a serious Triple Crown contender in the AL with a .329 average and 66 RBIs so far, and the massive guy who wasn’t even a lock to make the big-league club out of spring training is set for his All-Star debut.

“It’s motivation to tell you don’t take anything for granted,” Judge said, as he sat on the warning track Monday and explained why he keeps the reminder of 2016’s struggles with him at all times. “This game will humble you in a heartbeat. So I just try to keep going out there and play my best game every day, because I could hit .179 in a couple weeks.”

Scherzer sounds eager to check out the phenom.

“I’ve seen it from afar, the year he’s had so far,” Scherzer said. “Obviously been the best hitter there in the American League. I think they will all agree with that. I enjoy facing the best. It’s what you look for. I mean, you get a chance to obviously be in the All-Star Game to face the best hitter in the game, potentially, that’s what you look for. So it will be fun.”

A year ago, Judge was still a month away from his big-league debut. He homered in his first two games with the Yankees, and ended up with seven hits in his opening five games. He was an instant smash.

That is, until he wasn’t. Those seven hits in five games were followed by eight hits — total — in his remaining 22 games. He finished with nearly three times as many strikeouts (42) as hits (15). He simply didn’t look ready.

Look at him now: AllStar, likely rookie of the year, and maybe the MVP.