The American League won the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, topping the National League 3-0 to earn home field advantage in the World Series in . October. Mariano Rivera of the Yankees won the All-Star Game MVP award in his final All-Star Game after throwing a perfect eighth inning.
The AL's win snapped a three game winning streak by the NL, handing the junior circuit homefield advantage in the World Series for the first time since 2009, when the Yankees beat the Phillies in six games. The game itself was a little drab though, as no hitter for either side reached base more than once and no pitcher really dominated. Thus, the 1-2-3 eighth by Rivera seemed reason enough to hand him the MVP award.
The American League first got on the board in the fourth, when Miguel Cabrera scored on a Jose Bautista sacrifice fly after leading the inning off with a double against Pat Corbin of the Diamondbacks. Chris Davis followed the double with a single, leading to Bautista's sac fly to get the scoring started. The AL struck again in the fifth, when Adam Jones led the inning off with a double and scored on a fielder's choice groundout by his teammate JJ Hardy. In the eighth, the AL tacked on a third run after Jason Kipnis doubled home Sal Perez of the Royals.
Meanwhile, the senior circuit didn't do much of anything. The NL put a whopping four runners on base all night, and only Andrew McCutchen touched third base all night, thanks to a stolen base and a ground out in the fourth inning. Aside from that, the NL's only other runner in scoring position came in the ninth, when Paul Goldschmidt doubled off of Joe Nathan.
Each league will have the next two days off before games kick back into full gear on Friday. As always, we'll be providing content during the rest of the All-Star Break.
