The 94th MLB All-Star Game was played Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and the American League continued its Midsummer Classic dominance with a come-from-behind win (AL 5, NL 3). The so-called Junior Circuit scored five unanswered runs after falling behind 3-0 on Shohei Ohtani’s third-inning three-run homer.
Last year the National League snapped a nine-year All-Star Game losing streak, winning its first since 2012 at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. That was a one-off though. Tuesday’s win was the AL’s 22nd win in the last 27 All-Star Games. The All-Star rivalry has been extremely one-sided lately. That said, the all-time series is fairly even: 48-44-2 in favor of the AL.
Here are five takeaways from the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.
1. Ohtani gave the people what they want
The game’s biggest star opened the scoring Tuesday night. Ohtani hit a long and loud three-run home run against Red Sox ace Tanner Houck to give the National League a (short-lived) 3-0 lead in the third inning. This is about as no-doubt as no-doubters get:
Ohtani is the first Dodgers player to hit a home run in the All-Star Game since Hall of Famer Mike Piazza took Charles Nagy deep in the 1996 Midsummer Classic at the old Veterans Stadium. He’s the tenth Dodgers player to hit a homer in the All-Star Game overall.
This was Ohtani’s fourth straight All-Star Game and he entered Tuesday having gone 1 for 4 with two walks in his previous three All-Star Games. He also threw a 1-2-3 inning as the AL’s starting pitcher in 2021.
2. We got Skenes vs. Judge
AL manager Bruce Bochy opted to bat Aaron Judge, MLB’s leader in home runs and OPS, cleanup in the All-Star Game, which meant a quick 1-2-3 first inning would deprive us of a Judge vs. Paul Skenes matchup. Thankfully Juan Soto, Judge’s partner in crime with the Yankees, worked a walk to get Judge to the plate in the first inning. Soto called his shot too.
Soto worked a seven-pitch walk and put up by the far the most competitive at-bat against Skenes, giving us the Judge vs. Skenes matchup. And then Judge grounded out harmlessly on the first pitch. Anticlimactic! At least we did get to see the best hitter in the world vs. arguably already the best pitcher in the world in the All-Star Game. That’s better than Judge being left in the on deck.
Here is Skenes’ inning:
Soto drove in two runs the half-inning after Ohtani gave the NL a 3-0 lead. Unlikely All-Star David Fry followed with a single to drive in Soto and tie the game 3-3. Ohtani gave the NL a 3-0 lead and Giants righty Logan Webb gave it all back in the next half-inning. Shohei must’ve felt like he was playing for the Angels again.
3. Duran broke the tie
The NL took a 3-0 on Ohtani’s homer and the AL responded with five unanswered runs. Soto and Fry plated three runs in the third inning, then, in the fifth, Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran broke the tie with a two-run homer off Reds flame-thrower Hunter Greene. Duran, like Ohtani, turned around a mistake splitter.
Duran is the first Red Sox player to hit a home run in the All-Star Game since Adrian Gonzalez back in 2011. Gonzalez cranked a two-run homer off Cliff Lee at Chase Field. Lee seemed untouchable back in those days.
Two innings after his homer, Duran made a nifty play in center to quickly retrieve Elly De La Cruz’s base hit and limit him to a single. Bryan Reynolds followed with a single later in the inning and that surely would have scored De La Cruz had he been at second base. Duran drove in two runs and helped save a run in the field. That earned him All-Star Game MVP honors.
4. Miller flirted with 104 mph
Given the rise in velocity, it is a near certainty Athletics closer Mason Miller threw the fastest pitch in All-Star Game history Tuesday night. He threw a 103.6 mph heater — 103.6 mph! — in his perfect inning of work. It is for sure the fastest pitch thrown in an All-Star Game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). Here is Miller’s heat:
OK, so a pitch in the dirt isn’t very exciting, but still, 103.6 mph! Miller threw eight pitches that clocked at 100 mph or better Tuesday, plus one at 99.9 mph. Prior to Miller, the fastest All-Star pitch ever was a 103.4 mph heater by Aroldis Chapman back in 2015.
5. Turner made a slick play while mic’d up
Look, no one likes in-game interviews. They’re distracting, they’re rarely entertaining, and every so often a player who is mic’d up will make an error. If it happens in an All-Star Game, whatever. But a mic’d up player screwing something up in a meaningful regular-season game is always cringy. Alas and alack, in-game interviews aren’t going anywhere. It is what it is.
I do have to acknowledge that there was, however, an extremely cool thing that happened while a player was mic’d up in the All-Star Game. All three Phillies infielders — Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner — were mic’d up and bantering when Turner made a slick diving play to take a hit away from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. His teammates loved it:
I acknowledge that was a cool moment. You are now free to go back to hating in-game interviews. I know I will.
