The American League has won the 2018 MLB All-Star Game with a score of 8-6 after the game was driven into extra innings.
Managed by A.J. Hinch for the Houston Astros, the American League took home the victory at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Tuesday night in the 89th Midsummer Classic.
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Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman was named the MVP of the game after scoring the game-winning home run in the top of the 10th inning.
The American League led most of the game, but the National League caught up on several occasions. After leading 2-1 since the third inning, the National League tied it up in the bottom of the 7th. American League then broke away in the following inning with Seattle Mariners’ Jean Segura blasting a 3-run homer.
The National League still refused to quit and tied the ballgame up with 1 run the bottom of the 8th and 2 more in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a game-tying home run from Cincinnati Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett that sent the game into extra innings.
While it appeared baseball fans were in for a long night, Bregman and Astros teammate George Springer hit back-to-back homer runs in the top of the 10th, and Segura scored again off an RBI from Cleveland Indians’ Michael Brantley.
Reds first baseman Joey Votto tried to start a rally with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the 10th, but it was not enough to salvage the game.
The American League extended its five-year winning streak for its sixth win against the National League in six years. Before Tuesday’s game, the series was 43-43 with two ties, putting the league at a pretty even keel, although the American League has been making a recent comeback with five straight victories and 17 of the last 21.
Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer started for the National League in his home park, where teammate Bryce Harper won the Home Run Derby in an epic comeback Monday night.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale got the nod for the American League. It was Sale’s third consecutive start in the All-Star Game, which made him the first pitcher to do that since Philadelphia’s Robin Roberts from 1953-1955.
Starting players, decided on by online votes from MLB fans, ranged from Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox), Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels) and Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) for the American League to Harper, Javier Baez (Chicago Cubs) and Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves) for the National League. Other notable players, chosen by players and the Commissioner’s Office, rotated in throughout the game.
It was the fifth time the All-Star Game had been played in Washington, and the first since the club’s 33-year hiatus away from the nation’s capital.
The 2018 All-Star Game was the culmination of a week-long celebration in Washington, D.C. celebrating the mid-summer break and followed the night after the 2018 Home Run Derby, won by hometown hero Bryce Harper. Harper outslugged the Cubs’ Max Schwarber in a nail-biter final round, winning by a score of 19 to 18 home runs.
Photo Credit: Fox
