Schwarber lifts NL to win over AL - Marin Independent Journal

MLB ALL-STAR GAME

Schwarber lifts NL to win over AL

Hit three homers in tiebreaker after game was tied at 6

The Athletics’ Brent Rooker celebrates after his three-run home run against the National League with Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda during the seventh inning of the MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park on Tuesday in Atlanta. JAMIE SQUIRE – GETTY IMAGES

Giants pitcher Logan Webb throws during third inning at the MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park on Tuesday in Atlanta. MIKE STEWART – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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ATLANTA >> Kyle Schwarber went 3 for 3 in the first All-Star Game home run swing-off to put the National League ahead 4-3 following a 6-6 tie in which the American League rallied from a six-run deficit on Tuesday night.

In baseball’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shootout, the game was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off coaches. The change was agreed to in 2022 to alleviate the concern of teams running out of pitchers.

Schwarber was named All-Star MVP after going 0 for 2 with a walk in the game.

Brent Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings, and Kyle Stowers — subbing for Eugenio Suárez — hit one.

Randy Arozarena boosted the AL lead to 3-1, and Schwarber was successful on all three tries, going down to a knee as he sent the one into the Chop House seats in right.

Jonathan Aranda failed on all three tries, hitting the right-field wall with his second, and the NL didn’t have to use its last batter, two-time Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso, as it won for just the second time in the last 12 All-Star Games. The AL leads 48-45 with two ties.

Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first had put the NL ahead, and Alonso’s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a 6-0 lead in the sixth.

The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodríguez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI groundout.Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth, and Steven Kwan’s infield hit on a three-hopper to third off Edwin Díaz drove in the tying run.

Joe Torre, the 84-year-old former Yankees manager, went to the mound for a pitching change in the eighth to take the ball from Shane Smith and hand it to Andrés Muñoz. The Hall of Famer was picked as a coach by current New York skipper Aaron Boone, who managed the AL.

Heat on the mound >> Paul Skenes, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game each of his first two seasons, struck out Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene in a perfect first that included Aaron Judge’s inning-ending groundout. The 23-year-old right-hander reached 100 mph on four of 14 pitches.

Jacob Misiorowski, a controversial inclusion after pitching in just five major league games in his rookie season, fired nine pitches of 100 mph or more in a one-hit eighth 34 days after his major league debut. The 23-year-old righty, added to the NL roster by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, reached 102.3 mph.

There were 21 pitches of 100 mph or more, down from a record 23 last year but up from 13 in 2023, 10 in 2022 and one in 2021.

Robot umpire debuts >> Four of five challenges were successful in the first use of the robot umpire in the All-Star Game

Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh signaled for an appeal to the Automated Ball-Strike System in the first inning, getting a strikeout for Detroit’s Tarik Subal on San Diego’s Manny Machado.

Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson also was successful as the first batter to call for a challenge, reversing a 1-0 fastball from Washington’s MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning that had been called a strike. Mets closer Edwin Díaz and Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk also won challenges, and Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers lost one.

Earning a hand >> Freddie Freeman was removed for Alonso with two outs in the third inning, giving the crowd of 41,702 a chance to cheer a player who spent 12 seasons with the Braves and helped win the 2021 World Series title.

MLB honors Aaron with recreation of record homer >> Major League Baseball honored late Hall of Famer Hank Aaron by recreating his record-breaking 715th home run through the use of projection mapping and pyrotechnics.

The lights went down at Truist Park and fans stood holding their cell phone lights following the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. The scene from April 8, 1974 at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was projected on the infield and also shown on the video board.

The high-tech images of Aaron and other players were seen on the Truist Park infield before a blaze of a fireball launched from home plate to signify the homer that pushed Aaron past Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers.

Aaron’s widow, Billye Aaron, stood and waved as the cheers from the sellout crowd of 41,702 grew louder.

NL players warmed up for the game in batting practice jerseys with Aaron’s No. 44 on the back.