A Yandy Díaz homerun headlined a strong performance by players of Cuban heritage in last night’s All-Star Game in T-Mobile field in Seattle. The NL defeated the AL 3-2 via a key longball by Venezuelan catcher Elías Diaz, whom took home the MVP on the evening. It was the first National League victory in the mid-summer classic since 2012.
As far as the players of Cuban Heritage go, five of them started the game and a total of 9 saw action in last night’s contest and 11 made the game in total. Luis Robert was held out of the game for precautionary reasons after pulling a calf muscle in the Homerun Derby and Yordan Álvarez is recovering from a lat pull.
Aside from Yandy Diaz’s longball for the American League, his teammate Randy Arozarena swatted a hit in two at-bats. Adolis García went hitless in two trips to the plate. Yennier Cano took the mound in the sixth and although he gave up a hit, he fanned two batters to get out of the episode.
The AL strikes first!
Yandy Díaz with a solo shot in the 2nd! @RaysBaseball pic.twitter.com/6paRKhXkaN
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 12, 2023
For the National League plenty of Cubans saw action on the night. J.D. Martínez was perfect in two trips to the plate and scored a run, while Nick Castellanos also collected a hit in two at-bats and also scored on an occasion. Lourdes Gurriel Jr had a single in two at-bats and had a key homerun overturned by replay in the top of the seventh inning.
Nolan Arenado went hitless in his two trips to the plate and Jorge Soler reached on error in his only at-bat. In what was a historical game for players of Cuban heritage also ended up being a great couple of days for Latinos in general with the Elías Díaz MVP and Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s homerun title.
Cuban action on the evening:
Yandy Díaz (TAM) 2-1,HR,RBI,R
Randy Arozarena (TAM) 2-1
Adolis García (TEX) 2-0
Yennier Cano (BAL) 1.0IP,H,0ER,2K
Nick Castellanos (PHI) 2-1,R*
J.D. Martínez (LAD) 2-2,2B,R*
Nolan Arenado (STL) 2-0
Jorge Soler (MIA) 1-0
Lourdes Gurriel Jr (ARI) 2-1
* Cuban-American