PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥� Dylan Cease struck out the side in the first inning, combining with 10 relievers on a three-hitter in a show of pitching dominance that led the American League to a 4-0 win over the National League in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.
All-Star MVP Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single in the first against Cristopher S谩nchez 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.
Singles by Juan 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.
Pitchers combined for 27 strikeouts, 15 by AL hurlers.
Cease struck out Kyle Schwarber, Soto and CJ Abrams around a walk in the first inning. 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) 鈥� four of them Hall of Famers.
Parker Messick, Michael Wacha, Joe Ryan, Nick Martinez, Cade Smith, Drew Rasmussen, Jacob Latz, Louis Varland, Aroldis Chapman and Bryan Baker finished the first All-Star shutout since the AL鈥檚 2-0 win in 2013 at New York鈥檚 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 S谩nchez, who struggled through a 34-pitch inning that included three hits and two walks.
鈥淚t just took me a little time to soak it all in and enjoy it,鈥� S谩nchez said through a translator.
Mike Trout, a 12-time All-Star who hadn鈥檛 played in the game since 2019 because of injuries, went 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
Early exit
Tampa Bay鈥檚 Junior Caminero was from St. Louis closer Riley O鈥橞rien 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.
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. The dirt was surrounded by 13 stars, one for each of the Colonies.
Fireworks were set off after the fourth inning to a video of Ray Charles singing 鈥淎merica the Beautiful鈥� at Game 2 of the 2001 World Series.
Philadelphia was awarded this year鈥檚 All-Star Game in 2019 an unusually long lead time to coincide with the U.S. 250th semiquincentennial. The Phillies hosted the 1976 and 鈥�96 games at Veterans Stadium and the Athletics in 1943 and 鈥�52 at Shibe Park.
At the 1996 game, there was a hard hit even before the first pitch. Cal Ripken Jr.鈥檚 nose was broken when struck by a forearm of Chicago White Sox reliever Roberto Hernandez when he lost his balance on a platform during the AL team picture.
Next year鈥檚 game is scheduled for the Chicago Cubs鈥� Wrigley Field for the first time since 1990 but is threatened by possible labor strife.
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