SF Giants’ Camilo Doval gets the win as NL beats AL in All-Star Game
San Francisco Giants closer Camilo Doval usually gets the save in his appearances.
But in his first appearance in the All-Star Game, the fireballing right-hander got the win.
Doval pitched a scoreless seventh inning before Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the National League a 3-2 win over the American League in the 2023 MLB All-Star Game in Seattle.
It’s the first NL victory in the All-Star Game since 2012 — which, coincidentally, also saw a Giants pitcher get the win. That year, Matt Cain took the mound as the starter with the NL already up 5-0 and threw two scoreless innings to pick up the victory.
In his one inning, Doval got Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker to fly out, struck out Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, gave up a double to Guardians infielder Jose Ramirez and got Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman to line out to right field.
All three of the Bay Area’s all stars did well in their appearances. Alex Cobb walked his former teammate Shohei Ohtani to start the fourth inning, but retired the next three batters — striking out Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena, getting Blue Jays infielder Bo Bichette to fly out to right and getting Rays infielder Yandy Diaz to ground out to first — to finish a scoreless inning.
As the lone A’s representative, Brent Rooker entered the game in the sixth inning in left field. When Rooker took his first at-bat in the bottom of the inning — and with fans chanting “Sell the team” loud enough to be heard on the broadcast — the first-time all-star smashed the second pitch he saw to right-center for a ground-rule double.
“He hit it pretty well” – Juan Soto
We agree pic.twitter.com/EXWhG2QmwK
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) July 12, 2023
Rooker would get a chance in the eighth with a runner on first and one out against Padres closer Josh Hader. Rooker smashed a ball to third, but Austin Riley of the Braves snatched the ball and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.
That ended a threat to respond to the big fly from Diaz, who became the first Rockies player to win the All-Star Game’s MVP award.
Díaz, who was non-tendered by the Pirates at the end of 2019, drove a 2-2 pitch from Baltimore’s hard-throwing closer deep to left to put the NL in front. Díaz was the lone representative for Colorado in his first All-Star Game appearance.
He has nine homers this season, but hadn’t hit a long ball since June 23 against the Los Angeles Angels.
“This means a lot to me, to my family,” he said. “Being in the ASG for me is amazing.”
For most of the night, the All-Star Game was a pitchers’ duel highlighted by a couple big hits and some excellent defense.
It got nervous for the NL in the ninth. Wander Franco flied out to the warning track leading off against Philadelphia closer Craig Kimbrel, who issued two-out walks to Kyle Tucker and Seattle star Julio Rodríguez.
Kimbrel recovered to strike out José Ramírez to end it. Kimbrel also pitched in the previous NL win, recording two outs in 2012.
Yandy Díaz hit a solo homer in the second inning and Bo Bichette’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning gave the AL a 2-1 lead.
J.D. Martinez doubled and scored on Luis Arraez’s single in the fourth against Seattle’s George Kirby, tying it at 1. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. appeared to tie the game again in the seventh when his shot down the left-field line was originally ruled a homer but was overturned as a foul ball on replay.
The All-Star Game returned to the Emerald City for the first time since 2001 when the Mariners were in the middle of their magical 116-win regular season, Cal Ripken Jr. said goodbye to the All-Star stage and Tommy Lasorda took a tumble.
Gerrit Cole became the first New York Yankees pitcher to start the All-Star Game since Roger Clemens in that 2001 game. He needed a pair of spectacular leaping catches from Adolis García and Randy Arozarena near the wall to escape the first inning unscathed.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.