Here are the takeaways from the 2022 Midsummer Classic at Dodger Stadium...
- Shohei Ohtani told FOX’s Tom Verducci he was swinging first pitch. He did, and took Clayton Kershaw ’s first pitch into center field for a base hit. But the lefty picked him off and struck out Aaron Judge, much to the delight of his home crowd. In his lone inning, he kept the AL scoreless and walked one.
- Shane McClanahan hadn’t given up a run in the first inning all year – then he allowed two on Tuesday. Ronald Acuna Jr. led off the inning with a double, and Mookie Betts drove him in. After a nifty double play by Andres Gimenez and Tim Anderson, Paul Goldschmidt went deep to make it 2-0.
- Alek Manoah was mic’d up, and struck out the first two batters he faced, talking some smack in the process. John Smoltz asked him to throw a slider to Jeff McNeil on 0-2, which Manoah said was “sexy,” but it hit him. It’s not a baseball game if a Met doesn’t get hit, right? Anyway, Manoah struck out Acuna, too. He dominated the mic and his inning, stealing the show.
- Until the fourth inning. So-Cal native Giancarlo Stanton ended his mic’d up session by saying he hoped he got a hit in the stadium he grew up going to. Well, he got one.
He blasted a game-tying, 457-foot two-run homer in the fourth inning off Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin. Byron Buxton followed up with a solo shot to go back-to-back and give the AL a 3-2 lead.
Stanton's home run earned him the game's MVP Award.
- Jose Trevino earned his first All-Star hit while mic'd up, shortly after he and Nestor Cortes shared the mic as the battery in the sixth inning. Cortes also struck out two.
- Clay Holmes entered the game in the eighth inning, and allowed a single to Austin Riley, which was the NL's first hit since the first inning. He recorded two outs before being relieved by Liam Hendriks.
- Pete Alonso reached on a walk in his lone plate appearance, and McNeil grounded out in the fifth.
- In his final All-Star Game, Albert Pujols flied out in his lone at-bat, but was given warm ovations all night.
- The AL has now won nine straight All-Star Games and are 20-4-1 in the last 25.