Astros power AL
MVP Bregman, Springer defy odds by slugging back-to-back homers in 10th inning to break deadlock
Alex Bregman and George Springer slam back-to-back home runs in the top of the 10th to send the AL All-Stars to their sixth straight win in the Midsummer Classic.
WASHINGTON — A man in Dodgers blue stood defeated beneath a national audience on the baseball’s biggest stage, staggered again by the swings of the defending World Series champions who, a year later, continue to rewrite their history book.
Alex Bregman and George Springer clobbered go-ahead, back-to-back home runs against Ross Stripling in the 10th inning of the All-Star Game, sending the American League to an 8-6 victory that featured a recordsetting 10 home runs between the two teams.
“Kind of gave me a little bit of a flashback,” American League manager A.J. Hinch said. “How ironic for us to be in the dugout against each other again and have it play out like that.”
Three of the home runs came in the 10th inning. Scooter Gennett crushed a two-run shot against Seattle closer Edwin Diaz with one out in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game.
Unintentionally, Hinch positioned his two players back-to-back in the order. Ordinarily it’s reversed, Springer leading off and Bregman hitting second. Wacky rosters and wackier mid-game switches forced it flipped. So Bregman led off, watching a cutter sail over for strike one.
“Went into battle mode,” said Bregman, who ran the count to 2-2. “Was just trying to put a line drive in play.”
A day removed from 15 Home Run Derby lasers into the left-field seats, those low liners he tried to lift repeatedly, Bregman replicated it. He launched a fastball well into the leftfield bullpen, tying the game.
He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, the first Astro to win the award.
“I’m on cloud nine,” he said. Springer came to Washington mired in a miserable slump. He mus-
tered only three extra-base hits in the 87 at-bats preceding the break. A sharp, eighth-inning single against former Astros farmhand Josh Hader was his first career All-Star hit, the sort of stout contact to which he is accustomed.
Against Stripling, Springer saw one pitch. He obliterated it to the opposite field, padding the American League lead to 7-5 and evoking eerie memories of last October, when this once-middling franchise conquered the mighty Dodgers with such similar late-inning theatrics.
“He’s back,” Hinch said. “I told him, he’s back. He goes bullet to left single and oppo homer, he’s back. He should wear the same shoes, same undershirt, same everything when we go to Anaheim.”
The Astros entered Nationals Park without a hit in an All-Star Game since 2011. Even Jose Altuve, their reigning MVP and four-time Silver Slugger had not hit safely in any of his five previous appearances.
Altuve lined a first-pitch single against Aaron Nola in the fifth inning, affording the reigning American League MVP another career milestone — his first hit in six All-Star Game appearances.
“It felt weird,” Altuve said. “It felt like I got my first big league hit or something like that — something I’d never done before, get a hit in an All-Star Game. But it feels good and it was a good experience.”
He departed the game early, as many All-Star starters do, and spoke to reporters in the seventh inning. He concluded his comments as Springer struck the hit against Hader.
“Hopefully, it’ll help me out. It’s obviously a good day for myself and for a lot of guys in here. It’s fun to contribute and have a lot of fun.”
It advanced Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo to second base. Choo’s one-out single was the first hit struck all season by a lefthanded hitter against Hader.
Hader, momentarily, had a reprieve. Mariners shortstop Jean Segura lifted a full-count pitch lazily to Joey Votto in foul territory. The Reds first baseman dropped it, earning boos from an NL-proud crowd of 43,843.
Two pitches later, Segura launched a three-run homer into the left-field bullpen. Four more shots followed, including Votto’s moot, 10th-inning blast against Diaz, the American League’s winning pitcher. J.A. Happ got the save.
The 10 home runs were complemented by 25 strikeouts.
“Standard operation nowadays, right,” Hinch quipped. In more ways than one. “I’ll take the same World Series, the same outcome,” said Hinch, the first-time All-Star manager, “and I’ll try to come back here next year.”