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Dylan Cease started a parade of hitters that shut down dozens of baseball’s best hitters in a display of dominance that dominates the sport.
“I thought before the game about starting with a change and realized that it would be funny,” he said.
He didn’t. Even the hitters weren’t laughing.
Cause pitched the team in the first inning, including 10 strikeouts in a three-hitter that led the American League (AL) to the National League (NL) 4-0 in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night.
He walked Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto and CJ Abrams in the first inning, while striking out six on 15 swings. He became just the seventh pitcher to hit three in the opening inning of an All-Star game after Carl Hubbell (1934), Warren Spahn (1949), Jim Palmer (1977), Dave Stieb (1983), Pedro Martinez (1999) and Brad Penny (2006) – four of whom are Hall of Famers.
After talking to Justin Verlander, a senior AL All-Star, Cease abandoned the original idea of a changeup and instead threw Schwarber a 96.9 mph 4-seamer.
“Verlander talked to me about it,” Cease said. “So we started with the heater and I’m glad we did.”
Pitchers struck out 27, an All-Star Game record in nine innings – 15 of them by AL pitchers.
“That’s the game now. The guys’ stuff is unbelievable,” said AL manager John Schneider, who is also Cease’s captain in Toronto. “I think the bullpen boys just ate it up. They were all happy coming off the mound. It’s clear how good the singing is.”
All-Star MVP Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single in the first against Christopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox added an eighth inning home run off Justin Wrobleski of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was playing on his 26th birthday, the only extra-base hit of the game. The AL won for the 18th time in 23 games and held a 49-45-2 advantage overall.
“The game was strong today,” Bellinger said.
Singles by Soto in the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth and Otto Lopez were the only NLs that 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 completed the All-Star shutout for the tenth time and first since the AL’s 2-0 victory in 2013 at Citi Field in New York.
Some early star power was absent, with Jacob Misoriowski, Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani all unavailable. Only six pitches reached 100 mph, the fewest in the All-Star Game since 2021.
Bellinger and Rice both singled in sinkers off Sanchez, who struggled through 34 innings that included three hits and two walks.
“It took me a little while to soak it in and enjoy it,” Sanchez said through a translator.
Writing the date
Managers and starters entered with Replica Liberty Bells in front of each dugout, walked to home plate and used a winged quill to sign a large line card, as if the Founding Fathers had attached the words to the Declaration of Independence. MLB has donated a card to the Hall of Fame.
The 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 riding bikes to a sandlot game narrated by Oscar-winning actor JK Simmons. As a video of Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful” in Game 2 of the 2001 World Series played, kids biked onto the field and began interacting with the All-Stars as fireworks exploded above the ballpark.
“We were all one of those kids,” said NL manager Dave Roberts of the Dodgers. “Some of these kids might not get a chance to be on the big league field. So for them to get that chance to be — to have an All-Star interview is something they might never get that chance again, right?
Bellinger thought back to his youth.
“We are all young children who play this game even though it is a challenging game,” he said. “We’re all still those little kids with big dreams.”
Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero was hit out of his left hand by a 97.6 mph sinker from St. Louis. Louis closer Riley O’Brien in the third inning and immediately left the game. The 23-year-old, who is fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, lingered for a moment before emerging and running straight to the clubhouse. X-rays were negative.
