Acuña, Judge lock up All-Star starting nods

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. were named starters for next month's Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.

Judge and Acuña secured their spots early as the leading vote-getters in the American and National Leagues, respectively, through the first phase of voting that ended Thursday.

Judge, the major league leader with 29 home runs, is an All-Star for the fourth time.

Acuña was named to his third All-Star Game. He is batting .281 with seven home runs, 18 RBIs and 13 stolen bases through 43 games this year.

The second phase of fan voting will determine the rest of the starters for each league out of the list of finalists MLB revealed Thursday. That phase will begin July 5 and close on July 8 at 2 p.m. ET.

Houston's Kyle Tucker was thrown out Thursday night when he tried to steal home while New York Yankees starter Luis Severino tinkered with his malfunctioning PitchCom device.

Alex Bregman had just hit a two-run double to put Houston up 2-0 and Tucker was on third with two outs in the third inning.

With Yuli Gurriel at-bat, a frustrated Severino took off his cap and held the PitchCom speaker to his ear, apparently unable to hear instructions from catcher Jose Trevino.

Tucker saw Severino was distracted and tried to sneak home. Severino had the PitchCom earpiece in his right hand and had to quickly maneuver to get the baseball back in his throwing hand. He threw home while still holding his cap, and his throw narrowly beat Tucker and ended the inning.

The PitchCom digital pitchcalling devices, which transmit signals from the catcher to the pitcher, were introduced to the majors this season.