AL wins 5th in row on Cano HR
Second baseman, 34, was one of oldest in game.
MIAMI — Robinson Cano hugged Francisco Lindor after the final out, exchanged high-fives with his American League teammates and put an arm around the shoulder of designated hitter/photographer Nelson Cruz.
Winning the All-Star Game still seemed to matter, even if it didn’t mean World Series home field.
Cano homered off Cubs closer Wade Davis leading off the 10th inning and the AL beat the National League 2-1 Tuesday night for its fifth straight victory in a game dominated by this era’s flame-throwers, rather than its standout sluggers.
At 34, the Seattle second baseman was among the oldest players in an event built around so many of the sport’s new, young stars, and he was added to the roster only Friday as an injury replacement. At that time, he didn’t realize baseball players and owners had scrapped the rule giving home-field advantage in the Fall Classic to the league that wins the Midsummer Classic.
“When I found out, I said, I might get an at-bat,” Cano recalled.
Cano earned the MVP honor with his one clutch swing. He sent a hanging curve off the back wall of the right-field bullpen, then blew a bubble with his gum when rounding the bases.
He remembered telling his dad: “I’m not picked — like the last one. If I play, it’s great,” he said.
Cano hip-bumped Cruz on the way back the dugout, then was joined by jumping, hopping and high-fiving teammates on the bench. For good measure, they doused Cano with sunflower seeds and fanned him with towels.
Craig Kimbrel wiggled out of a jam in the ninth and right fielder Justin Upton made a lunging catch in the 10th to help the AL. And for the first time since 1964, the rivalry is back to all even — 43 wins apiece with two ties, and each side has scored 361 runs.
Cleveland closer Andrew Miller finished off the win. Manager Brad Mills, taking over the AL squad because Indians skipper Terry Francona was recovering from a heart procedure last week, was thrilled.
“The last thing we wanted to do was get pitchers in that shouldn’t probably be in the game, and risk an injury or something,” Mills said.
Cano’s homer came 50 years after the previous AllStar extra-inning homer, when Tony Perez hit a tiebreaking 15th-inning shot off Catfish Hunter in the NL’s 2-1 win at Anaheim, Calif. Perez, now a Marlins executive, was among eight Latin-born Hall of Famers who threw out ceremonial first pitches.
Miguel Sano put the AL ahead in the fifth with a bloop RBI single down the rightfield line against Alex Wood.
Yadier Molina tied it in the sixth with a home run off Ervin Santana. Two days before his 35th birthday, Molina became the oldest catcher with an All-Star homer.
Molina, wearing a shiny gold helmet and chest protector, had just entered behind the plate in the top half and snapped off an All-Star first — Cruz pulled a phone out of his uniform pants and asked the catcher to shoot photos of him with umpire Joe West.
“I would bet if the game had counted, he would not have done that,” NL manager Joe Maddon said.
Molina took the request in stride.
“It was weird, huh? It was funny, too,” he said. “I said: Are you serious? He was. So I did it.”