The American League won the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, defeating the National League, 5-3, as Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Duran was named the 2024 All-Star Game MVP.
The AL had its nine-game winning streak in the All-Star Game broken last year but has now won 10 of the last 11.
Here are the top takeaways from the game...
1) In his highly-anticipated matchup with the top of the AL lineup, NL starter Paul Skenes worked a fairly routine scoreless first inning. The rookie right-hander hit 100 mph on the radar gun, as expected, but didn’t strike anyone out.
He did overpower leadoff hitter Steven Kwan to get a weak fly out to center, then he got Gunnar Henderson to roll over on a 93-mph sinker that essentially acts as a change-up.
Up came Juan Soto, who had guaranteed in an interview on MLB Network that he’d make sure No. 4 hitter Aaron Judge got to face Skenes and, sure enough, he worked out a walk, taking a borderline fastball on the inside corner for ball four. He did so with a little flair, pointing at Judge as he headed toward first base.
Judge vs. Skenes was the classic confrontation everyone wanted to see, power vs. power. And the Pittsburgh Pirates’ fireballer got the best of it. He challenged Judge with a first-pitch 99 mph fastball, producing a routine ground ball to third that was only 86.5 mph off the bat.
2) Soto had an impressive night, drawing the walk against Skenes and then driving in two runs with a hustle double off Logan Webb in the third inning. His hit looked like a ground-ball single to right center, but Soto hustled it into a double when center fielder Teoscar Hernandez played the ball nonchalantly.
Soto also made a nice play in right field, fielding Jurickson Profar’s line drive off the wall in right quickly enough to hold it to a single.
Judge, who started in center field, went 0-for-2 with two ground outs.
3) Shohei Ohtani accounted for all the NL runs with a three-run home run in the third inning off Boston Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck.
Ohtani, second in the majors to Judge with 29 home runs, got a hanging splitter at 88 mph and hit it 400 feet to right-center.
4) The Mets’ only All-Star, Pete Alonso was a late-inning substitute and got one at-bat, striking out against Cleveland Guardians’ closer Emmanuel Clase to lead off the ninth inning.
Alonso fouled off two 101-mph fastballs before swinging through a 93-mph slider.
5) Mason Miller is surely the most intriguing trade possibility for both the Mets and Yankees, though the A’s reliever showed why it will cost a ton in prospects to acquire him with perhaps the most impressive inning by any pitcher on Tuesday night.
Miller worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning, striking out Ohtani and Trea Turner in addition to getting Ketel Marte to fly out to left. The right-hander threw 12 pitches in the inning, eight of them fastballs at 100 mph or higher. His fastest was clocked at 103.6 mph, according to MLB Statcast.
On both of his strikeouts, Miller got to two strikes with his fastball and then got Ohtani and Turner both to swing at sliders for the K's.
6) Corbin Burnes, who could be a free agent target for the Mets next offseason, pitched a scoreless first inning for the AL, working around a walk to Ohtani and an opposite-field double by Bryce Harper.
Burnes is having an outstanding season for the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4 with a 2.43 ERA -- third-best in the majors. His total of 118 2/3 innings is the sixth-highest in the majors.
The right-hander, who won the NL Cy Young Award with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021, is best known for his cutter but he hit 99 mph on the radar gun with his fastball on Tuesday night.