All-Star Game:
Homer in 10th lifts AL squad; Alonso gets 2 hits in victory
Seattle’s Robinson Cano, right, homers in the 10th inning to propel the AL to a 2-1 victory. The A’s Yonder Alonso had two hits.
MIAMI — Yonder Alonso didn’t need to hear the All-Star Game no longer “counts.” The A’s first baseman ranked getting married and having his first child the two biggest moments of his life — with his All-Star experience a close third. Yes, it counted for Alonso. It seemed to count for Robinson Cano, too, considering the width of his smile after his 10thinning home run that stood up in the American League’s 2-1 victory over the National League on Tuesday night.
For that matter, it also seemed to count for right fielder Justin Upton and shortstop Francisco Lindor, who made fabulous defensive plays in the bottom of the 10th before Cody Bellinger struck out to end the game.
“It all counts every day I put a uniform on and it’s a big-league field with big-league lights,” said Alonso, who soaked up every moment of the past two days with his family and friends. “It’s always on for me.”
From 2004, the winning league in the All-Star Game was awarded home-field advantage in the World Series. “This time it counts,” as they said. Thankfully, the grand poo-bahs came to their senses and eliminated the rule.
Now the pennant winner
with the better record gets the World Series home-field advantage, so Tuesday’s affair was back to being what it always was, a showcase for the game’s top stars to show their stuff in front of an energized crowd — in this case, 37,188 at Marlins Park — and millions in TV land.
Cano, the Mariners’ second baseman, was named MVP. His homer off Wade Davis of the Cubs was the first in an All-Star extra inning since Tony Perez’s 50 years earlier to the day.
“As a kid, you watch (Ken) Griffey and all those guys that come to the All-Star Game and win an MVP,” said Cano. “You want to get that feeling.”
Alonso singled twice to right field in two at-bats and — are you sitting down? — stole a base, the only A’s player other than Rickey Henderson with multiple hits and a steal in an AllStar Game.
Alonso’s steal in the ninth equaled his first-half total. Kenley Jansen didn’t pay attention, and there was no throw from catcher Yadier Molina.
Perhaps if Alonso scored a tie-breaking run, we’d be talking about Alonso the MVP. But Jansen struck out the side: Nelson Cruz, Gary Sanchez and (after a balk sending Alonso to third) Avisail Garcia.
“That was huge for (Cano) to come up like that. Besides, it was (against) a Cubs pitcher. That was kind of nice,” said AL manager Brad Mills, filling in for Terry Francona, whose Indians lost to the Cubs in the World Series.
In a season known for big swings and big home runs — as well as big swings and big misses — the first run of the All-Star Game came on an opposite-field bloop single by Miguel Sano, a finalist in Monday’s Home Run Derby.
The ball went way up with two outs, and three defenders went into immediate pursuit: first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, second baseman Daniel Murphy and right fielder Bryce Harper.
Nobody got close, and Baltimore’s Jonathan Schoop scored easily from second. The man who beat Sano in the derby, Aaron Judge of the Yankees, flied to near the warning track to end the inning.
The game didn’t get homerhappy until Molina cleared the wall in right-center in the sixth, his homer off Ervin Santana tying the score 1-1. Molina replaced the Giants’ Buster Posey, who went 0-for-1 with a walk — he fouled a wicked liner in his first at-bat before flying out.
Molina was involved in some home-plate shenanigans in the top of the inning. Seattle’s Cruz walked to the plate with a smartphone and had Molina take a picture of him posing next to umpire Joe West, who recently worked his 5,000th career game.
“I would bet if the game had counted, he would not have done that,” NL manager Joe Maddon said. Maybe, maybe not. If Posey were still in the game, would he have gone along with the gag and taken the picture?
“I would’ve had to, yeah,” he said with a laugh. “What am I going to say, no?” On the other hand ... “There’s definitely a line,” Posey said. “I think you can definitely go too far and take away the seriousness of it. It was fun, but you do have to be careful where you can mess with the integrity of the game a little bit.”
Posey said NL starter Max Scherzer joked with him that he’d throw all sliders. The Nationals’ pitcher struck out Judge with a 3-2 slider, then George Springer with a fastball to end his first and only inning.
AL starter Chris Sale pitched two innings, and then came constant pitching changes by both managers. Former A’s sidewinder Pat Neshek, of all people, was the NL’s second pitcher.
Fans might not have paid big money to see Neshek face Carlos Correa, but those are the breaks when a starting pitcher gets an early hook.
Posey, who played half the game but had to keep his game face on because he could have re-entered if Molina got hurt, was asked whether he felt any differently now that the game doesn’t determine the World Series schedule.
“No difference,” he said.