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2020 All Star Game
Hosted by the Oakland Athletics
This year's All-Star game features a pitching matchup of the ages as the National League sends Kansas City's own Yu Darvish while the American League sends Oakland's favorite son of the Rising Sun, Kenta Maeda!
The scoring started early for the AL in the bottom of the first as with one out, Seattle's DJ LeMahieu singled and then advanced to third on a two-out single by Toronto's Teoscar Hernandez putting runners on 1st and 3rd with two down. The Angels' Jose Ramirez then grounded a double down the third-base line scoring LeMahieu but Hernandez tried to score from first only to be thrown out at the plate keeping it a 1-0 AL lead.
The score remained that way until the top of the 4th inning as the Cleveland Indians' Shane Bieber was greeted by a leadoff triple by Houston's George Springer. Randy Arozarena tied the game at 1 with a sacrifice fly but that did not last long as with two down, the Home Run Derby champ and Phillies' Marzell Ozuna coaxed a two-out walk which set up Kansas City's Eric Hosmer who lined a deep drive down the right-field line and fair for a two-run home run and a 3-1 National League lead.
The game moved on to the 6th inning wherein the bottom half, Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off with a walk from Texas' P Walker Buehler. After Seattle's Mike Trout lined out to left for the 1st out, the Angels' Jose Ramirez belted a moonshot into the right-field stands for a two-run shot to tie the game at 3.
The game remained tied at 3 going into the 8th inning. The AL sent Seattle reliever Devin Williams who was greeted by a leadoff single from the bat of St. Louis C Yadier Molina. Williams then walked the next two batters to load the bases with no one out. That set up events for the All-Star MVP from the Miami Marlins, Andrelton Simmons who lined a go-ahead two-run single into left-center to give the NL a 5-3 lead. Williams almost pitched out of the jam by striking out the next two hitters but then walked Houston's Mitch Moreland to load the bases again. That led to the AL turning to Seattle's Dylan Bundy to try to get the final out but he had control issues and walked Minnesota's Luis Arraez to force in a run and make it a 6-3 NL lead by the time the inning finally came to an end.
The 9th inning provided a little drama as the NL turned to the Diamondbacks' lone All-Star Drew Pomeranz to close the game and in typical DBacks fashion, he proceeded to allow a leadoff infield single from the Yankees' Aaron Judge and then a walk to Baltimore's Chance Sisco to put runners at 1st and 2nd with no one out. The AL sent hometown hero, Oakland's Lourdes Gurriel Jr up to the plate as this game now came down to the representatives of the rival brother managers: Sabal vs. Sabal. This time the older (and I mean older) Sabal got the better of the other Sabal as Pomeranz struck out Gurriel for the 1st out. Seattle's Kyle Lewis then came up and met the same fate as Pomeranz struck him out and the tide quickly turned as the AL came down the final out and the only person in the way was San Diego's phenom Fernando Tatis. Pomeranz got Tatis to line out to the Cubs' CF Brandon Nimmo and the National League took the All-Star win with a 6-3 score.
NL All-Stars 6
AL All-Stars 3
WP - Nick Anderson, Cincinnati Reds
LP - Devin Williams, Seattle Mariners
SV - Drew Pomeranz, Arizona Diamondbacks
HR - Eric Hosmer, Kansas City and Jose Ramirez, Los Angeles Angels
All-Star MVP: Andrelton Simmons, Miami Marlins (1 for 3 with 2 RBIs, Go-ahead 2-run single in top of the 8th)