The American League edged the National in a tight five to three victory in the Major League Midseason Classic and designated hitter Yordan Álvarez walked in his only trip to the plate. The Cuban was in the starting lineup as the fifth hitter and faced Max Fried in the second inning, drawing a walk, however he was left stranded on base by the AL.
“It was an incredible experience. I am super happy to have participated in this event,” said Álvarez once he was replaced by David Fry at the end of the third inning. “The reason why I wanted to come is because now I can say that I played an all-star game, obviously I wanted live this experience,” said Álvarez in relation to the fact that this is his third selection to the event and until yesterday he had not been able to play any of the previous games he was elected to participate in.
Right-handers Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh) for the senior circuit and Corbin Burnes (Baltimore) for the junior circuit were the starters. After them, a contingent of 18 more pitchers paraded, of which 10 came from the National League bullpen. The visitors’ three runs were allowed by Tanner Houck of the Boston Red Sox in the top of the third inning. However, the locals recovered and “rocked” Logan Webb (San Francisco) for three runs at the conclusion of that same inning to even the score.
Finally Jarren Durán (Boston) launched a two-run homer on a Hunter Greene (Cincinnati) fastball at the end of the fifth inning and that ultimately proved to be the decisive blow and earned him the MVP of the game. It was the tenth win for the American League over the National League in their last 11 games, the AL now leads the series 48-44 (with two ties) in 94 games.