ROYALS LEAD AL
Kansas City duo slugs AL to 4-2 All-Star Game win
The Kansas City Royals never truly get the respect they deserve, virtually overlooked by everyone outside America’s heartland, but, oh, they sure have a way of grabbing your attention.
The bigger the stage, the more powerful the Royals become, and Tuesday night they turned the All-Star Game into their own personal showcase at Petco Park.
The Royals single-handedly beat the National League All- Stars, leading the American League to a 4-2 victory in front of a crowd of 42,386, providing a subtle reminder that we might not have seen the last of them on the national stage.
The Royals, who have been to the World Series the last two years and are still defending champions, figured they might as well seize home-field advantage, you know, just in case there’s a three-peat.
“We’ve been here before,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We’ve been on a big stage.”
And they could be getting on another one this autumn.
It was Hosmer who ripped a home run leading off the second inning, the first by a Royals player in an All-Star Game since Bob Jackson in 1989. Mookie Betts followed with a single, setting up Royals catcher Salvador Perez’s two-run homer.
Just like that, it was Royals 3, NL AllStars 1.
It was the first time a pair of teammates
“It’s going to affect somebody in that room, because homefield advantage is huge. It’s huge for us in Kansas City.” Royals manager Ned Yost
homered in the same All- Star Game since David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in 2004 and was a cruel way to treat their former teammate, San Francisco Giants starter Johnny Cueto, who helped win them their first World Series title since 1985 last season.
“I wanted to get them out, but they beat me,” Cueto said. “I left two pitches up, and they hit them. When you make a mistake in the big leagues, you pay the price.
“I made two mistakes with pitches down the middle, and I paid for them.”
The American League, the home team despite the game being played in a National League city, won for the fourth consecutive time.
“It’s vitally important,” Royals manager Ned Yost said before the game. “It’s going to affect somebody in that room, because homefield advantage is huge. It’s huge for us in Kansas City.
“It’s going to be huge for, you know, whoever gets to the World Series this year.”
The Royals, 45-43, might still be seven games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central, but Hosmer thinks perhaps their All-Star heroics will give them a second-half boost.
“We believe in ourselves as a team,” Hosmer said. “The guys that have come up have really bought in. They really play our style of ball. We’ve just got to figure out what we can for this second half.”
And if the Chicago Cubs really think they’re going to win that first World Series since 1908, they’re going to have to do it the hard way, starting the World Series on the road.
The All-Star loss dampened the Cubs’ block party. They had seven All-Stars in the game, including their entire starting infield. It was the first time they had four players in the All-Star starting lineup since 1936.
Still, Cubs All-Star third baseman Kris Bryant, who grew up in San Diego, buoyed the mood of the folks back home when he slammed Chicago White Sox starter Chris Sale’s first-pitch fastball off the left-field facade. It was the first time he ever got a hit off Sale, striking out in six plate appearances in his rookie year last season.
“It meant a lot to me,” Bryant said. “I’ve got a lot of friends and family here. Honestly, I was just out there thinking.
“Not many people get a chance to hit a home run in the All-Star Game, so I’m going to cherish this moment for a long time.”
Yet despite the Royals’ heroics and the Cubs’ family get-together, Boston Red Sox DH Ortiz still was the toast of the party, playing in his final All-Star Game.
Ortiz was swamped by fans and media members since he arrived in town Sunday night, drove to the beach and spent the rest of the evening trying to convince his family why they won’t be moving to San Diego after he retires.
He did yet another news conference before the game, was introduced to a loud standing ovation and even presented the official lineup card.
Ortiz hit a screaming shot down the first-base line but was robbed by Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo in his first at-bat and then was hit by a breaking pitch thrown by Marlins starter Jose Fernandez in his second at-bat.
He playfully pointed at Fernandez, laughed as he walked to first base and then was greeted by a loud standing ovation from the sellout crowd when he was taken out of the game.
Ortiz waved to the crowd and when he walked toward the AL dugout was greeted by the entire squad. Each one of them hugged Ortiz before he went inside.
It was a whirlwind three days, leaving Ortiz exhausted, but the present of all, Ortiz says, was a victory that could provide the Red Sox home-field advantage in case they return to the World Series for the fourth time in 13 years.
“When you’re playing home, you’ve got everybody cheering for you,” Ortiz said. “That’s good motivation. We’ve never played a Game 7, but it’s still important.
“All I’ll be focusing on now is getting through this year and making sure we play really well the rest of this season. The one thing I really want is going to the playoffs this season. I told (the front office), I want to be in the playoffs this year. This one mat- ters the most to me.”
Ortiz didn’t get the opportunity to face his old friend, and fellow 40-something-old Bartolo Colon, but it was perhaps only fitting that his final All-Star plate appearance was against Fernandez.
“The first time I met Fernandez,” Ortiz said, “he said, ‘You’ve been my favorite player forever.’ I’ve played this game for 20 years. You get emotional when someone with such a great future and they tell you how much they love you.”
Ortiz, 40, says he’ll be around for next year’s All-Star Game, too, since he has a home in Miami, but only as a fan.
Still, there are others who aren’t quite so sure considering his monstrous first half.
“I think it’s one of the hardest things to do, because when you’ve been doing seeming as long as Papi has done,” Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson said, “the hardest thing is to let it go because you’ve been so successful. But the reason I keep saying ‘if ’ is I don’t know if I want him to go. He means a lot to the game of baseball.
“To see him do the things he’s doing is awesome, and even though he’s an opponent, I still respect him and his game.”
So Donaldson will personally try to talk Ortiz out of retirement, despite being in the same division, and trying to stop the Blue Jays where they’re trying to go?
“I’m not at that stage yet,” Donaldson said, laughing.
“All I’m going to say is that I’m going to miss him if it’s his last year.”