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07/15 01:14 CDT Cease, bullpen combine on 3-hitter in AL's 4-0 win, first
All-Star shutout since 2013
Cease, bullpen combine on 3-hitter in AL's 4-0 win, first All-Star shutout
since 2013
By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --- Dylan Cease started a parade of pitchers that shut down a
slew of baseball's best batters in a display of the pitching dominance that
rules the sport.
"I thought before the game about starting with a changeup and I thought it
would be funny," he said.
He didn't. And the hitters were not laughing.
Cease struck out the side in the first inning, combining with 10 relievers on a
three-hitter that led the American League over the National League 4-0 in
Tuesday night's All-Star Game.
Cease fanned Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto and CJ Abrams around a walk in the first
inning, when he got six misses among 15 swings. He became just the seventh
pitcher to strike out three in an All-Star opening inning after Carl Hubbell
(1934), Warren Spahn (1949), Jim Palmer (1977), Dave Stieb (1983), Pedro
Martinez (1999) and Brad Penny (2006) --- four of them Hall of Famers.
After speaking with Justin Verlander, the senior AL All-Star, Cease gave up the
idea of starting with a changeup and instead threw Schwarber a 96.9 mph
four-seamer.
"Verlander talked me out of it," Cease said. "So we started with the heater and
then I was glad we did."
Pitchers struck out 27, a record for a nine-inning All-Star Game, 15 of them by
AL hurlers.
"That's the game now. Guys' stuff is unbelievable," said AL manager John
Schneider, also Cease's skipper in Toronto. "I think the bullpen guys kind fed
off of it. They were all excited coming off the mound. It speaks volumes to how
good the pitching is, for sure."
All-Star MVP Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an
RBI single in the first against Cristopher Snchez of the host Philadelphia
Phillies.
Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox added an eighth-inning home run off the
Los Angeles Dodgers' Justin Wrobleski, who was pitching on his 26th birthday,
for the game's only extra-base hit. The AL won for the 18th time in 23 games
and holds a 49-45-2 advantage overall.
"The pitching was just dominant today," Bellinger said.
Singles by Soto in the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth and Otto Lopez
in the ninth were the only hits by the NL, which failed to advance a runner
past first.
Parker Messick, Michael Wacha, Joe Ryan, Nick Martinez, Cade Smith, Drew
Rasmussen, Jacob Latz, Louis Varland, Aroldis Chapman and Bryan Baker finished
the 10th All-Star shutout and first since the AL's 2-0 win in 2013 at New
York's Citi Field.
Some starting star power was missing, with Jacob Misoriowski, Paul Skenes and
Shohei Ohtani all unavailable. Just six pitches reached 100 mph, the fewest in
an All-Star Game since 2021.
Bellinger and Rice both singled on up sinkers from Snchez, who struggled
through a 34-pitch inning that included three hits and two walks.
"It just took me a little time to soak it all in and enjoy it," Snchez said
through a translator.
Documenting the day Managers and starters entered through replica Liberty Bells in front of each dugout, walked to home plate and used a feathered quill to sign an oversized lineup card, as if they were Founding Fathers affixing names to the Declaration of Independence. MLB donated the card to the Hall of Fame. Dirt around the plate was surrounded by 13 stars, one for each of the Colonies. After the fourth inning, a video was played of kids bicycling to a sandlot game with a narration by Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons. As footage was played of Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful" at Game 2 of the 2001 World Series, the kids biked onto the field and started interacting with the All-Stars as fireworks went off above the ballpark. "We were all one of those kids," NL manager Dave Roberts of the Dodgers said. "Some of these kids might never get a chance to be on a major league field. So for them to have that opportunity to be --- have a conversation with an All-Star is something that they might never get that chance again, right? Bellinger thought back to his youth. "We're all little kids at heart playing this game even though it's a challenging game," he said. "We're all still those little kids with big dreams."
Early exit Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero was hit on the outside of his left hand by a 97.6 mph sinker from St. Louis closer Riley O'Brien in the third inning and immediately left the game. The 23-year-old, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse. X-rays were negative.
Been a while Mike Trout, a 12-time All-Star who hadn't played in the game since 2019 because of injuries, went 0 for 3 with a strikeout. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Documenting the day Managers and starters entered through replica Liberty Bells in front of each dugout, walked to home plate and used a feathered quill to sign an oversized lineup card, as if they were Founding Fathers affixing names to the Declaration of Independence. MLB donated the card to the Hall of Fame. Dirt around the plate was surrounded by 13 stars, one for each of the Colonies. After the fourth inning, a video was played of kids bicycling to a sandlot game with a narration by Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons. As footage was played of Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful" at Game 2 of the 2001 World Series, the kids biked onto the field and started interacting with the All-Stars as fireworks went off above the ballpark. "We were all one of those kids," NL manager Dave Roberts of the Dodgers said. "Some of these kids might never get a chance to be on a major league field. So for them to have that opportunity to be --- have a conversation with an All-Star is something that they might never get that chance again, right? Bellinger thought back to his youth. "We're all little kids at heart playing this game even though it's a challenging game," he said. "We're all still those little kids with big dreams."
Early exit Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero was hit on the outside of his left hand by a 97.6 mph sinker from St. Louis closer Riley O'Brien in the third inning and immediately left the game. The 23-year-old, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse. X-rays were negative.
Been a while Mike Trout, a 12-time All-Star who hadn't played in the game since 2019 because of injuries, went 0 for 3 with a strikeout. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
