Jarren Duran on Tuesday night turned some heads at Globe Life Field in his first All-Star Game, hitting a tiebreaking two-run homer in the American League’s (AL) 5-3 victory over the National League (NL) and winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy named after Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams.
The decisive homer came in the fifth inning as the AL beat the NL for the 10th time in the past 11 All-Star Games.
“That’s an honor. Who else would I want to try to follow in the footsteps of besides a guy like that, who is not just a great baseball player, but a great human being,” Duran said after becoming the fifth Red Sox player selected All-Star Game MVP. “That guy was awesome, and I’m honored to be able to have his award.”
Photo: AP
Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes pitched a hitless first for the NL, twice hitting 100mph (161kph), while Shohei Ohtani also went deep in Texas with a three-run homer for a 3-0 lead in the third.
Juan Soto hit a two-run double and scored on David Fry’s single to tie the score in the AL third, and Duran went deep off the Cincinnati Reds’ Hunter Greene.
“It’s a surreal moment. So I’m just thankful to be here,” said Duran, who was one of 39 first-time All-Stars this year.
The Oakland Athletics’ right-hander Mason Miller got the win after throwing a 103.6mph pitch, the fastest in the All-Star Game since tracking began in 2008. Hard-throwing Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase struck out two in the ninth for the save.
The 22-year-old Skenes, who has pitched only 11 big league games since being the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in July last year, became the first rookie starter since 1995 and had the fewest games played for any player to make an All-Star team.
The right-hander threw a hitless first, with a two-out walk to Soto before his New York Yankees teammate Aaron Judge grounded into a force-out on the next pitch.
“I don’t think I blacked out when I was out there, but I was pretty close,” he said.
Skenes threw 11 of 16 pitches for strikes, with seven fastballs up to 100.1mph.
“Frankly, I wish I’d had a few more pitches to do that today,” said Skenes, who has a good mix of pitches to go with the hard stuff. “It’s cool to bring eyes to the game.”
He said he treasured his time up close with teammate Ohtani, who had homered off Skenes last month.
“I tried to enjoy the three hours or so that I had on the same team with him because that’s probably only going to happen once a year,” Skenes said. “A guy like him, I’m sure everybody is probably going up to him so I kind of tried to stay out of his way. Talked to him about a couple different things and, yeah, watched him. I was in the weight room when he was in the weight room and just tried to watch him kind of do his thing and learn from that.”
Ohtani, who has gone deep 29 times in the first season of his record US$700 million, 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, pulled a 400-foot (122m) drive to right off Tanner Houck. That came after the Boston right-hander allowed singles to the first two batters he faced: No. 9 batter Jurickson Profar and leadoff hitter Ketel Marte.
“I haven’t really hit well in the All-Star Game, so I’m just relieved that I put the ball in play,” Ohtani said. “I just focused on having a regular at-bat as if I was in the regular season.”
Ohtani’s first All-Star homer made him the first Dodgers player to go deep in the Midsummer Classic since Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza in 1996. Eleven days after his 30th birthday, Ohtani was an All-Star for the fourth time — his first with the NL.
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