NATIONAL LEAGUE SNAPS ALL-STAR GAME LOSING STREAK, TOPS AL 3-2 BEHIND ELIAS DÍAZ HOMER
SEATTLE (AP) Elias Díaz hit a two-run homer off Félix Bautista in the eighth inning, and the National League snapped a nine-game losing streak in the All-Star Game with a 3-2 win over the American League on Tuesday night.
The NL won for the first time since an 8-0 victory in 2012 in Kansas City thanks to Díaz, a catcher who became the first Rockies player to win the All-Star MVP award.
“This means a lot to me, to my family,” he said. “Being in the ASG for me is amazing.”
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.
“It does matter. We wanted to win, the American League we wanted to win,” Bautista said through an interpreter. “But overall I think that it’s an experience I’ll never forget and just wish that would have been a little bit different.”
Díaz has nine homers this season, but hadn’t hit a long ball since June 23 against the Los Angeles Angels.
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.
“The ninth inning in the dugout was just a lot of fun to experience,” said San Diego’s Josh Hader, who pitched the eighth for the NL.
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.
Pitching was the story of the night. Only nine balls were hit over 100 mph. There were 20 combined strikeouts, including Camilo Doval silencing the home crowd with a strikeout of Rodríguez in the seventh inning where four of the five pitches topped 100 mph.
OHTANI CHANT
The All-Star Game was missing some big names with Mike Trout and Aaron Judge out with injuries, but it still had Shohei Ohtani.
The Angels star had an uneventful night with a strikeout and walk as the designated hitter. He drew the biggest cheers outside of Seattle’s three representatives during introductions, and he was serenaded with chants of “Come to Seattle” when he was at the plate.
The hometown crowd is well aware of his pending free agency this offseason.
“Never experienced anything like that, but I definitely heard it,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “But I was trying to focus on my at-bat.”
INJURIES
Toronto reliever Jordan Romano left in the seventh after throwing the pitch that Gurriel hit foul and was originally ruled fair. He threw five pitches before leaving the game with tightness in his back.
Chicago White Sox slugger Luis Robert Jr. did not play after feeling tightness in his right calf during the Home Run Derby. The White Sox said Robert underwent an MRI in Seattle and is listed as day to day.
SIX PACK
The Rangers made All-Star history when Nathan Eovaldi took the mound in the second. That marked the third time in an All-Star Game when there were six players from the same team on the field at the same time. It also occurred with the 1939 Yankees and 1951 Dodgers.
The Baseball Hall of Fame said a ball signed by all six players in the game would be headed to Cooperstown.
“That’s got to be one of the cooler moments in sports when you’ve got half the team on the field is your team, especially under these circumstances,” catcher Jonah Heim said. “It’s really special and I was glad I got to share it with these guys today.”
SKIPPED OVER
The Tampa Bay duo of Shane McClanahan and Wander Franco were inadvertently skipped over during pregame introductions. The pair jogged in on their own and left it to the Rays’ social media staff to give them a proper announcement.
ODE TO THE SONICS
Milwaukee’s Devin Williams has no known connection to Seattle, but did his part in winning over fans with his footwear choice for the All-Star Game. Williams had custom green and yellow spikes made for the game, featuring past logos of the Seattle SuperSonics on each shoe.
Williams said he’s a casual NBA fan and doesn’t really remember the Sonics playing in Seattle.
“It seemed pretty fitting for the game,” Williams said.
MARINERS HONORED
Six of the eight members of Seattle’s All-Star contingent from the 2001 game were recognized pregame. John Olerud, Bret Boone, Freddy Garcia, Jeff Nelson, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Edgar Martinez and manager Lou Piniella were honored. Ichiro Suzuki and Mike Cameron were also on the All-Star team that season.
Baseball Hall of Famers Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr. threw out the ceremonial first pitches to former teammates Dan Wilson and Jay Buhner.
UP NEXT
The post-All-Star break portion of the schedule starts Friday with every team in the league scheduled to be in action. San Diego at Philadelphia is the first game scheduled for Friday. The second half begins with Atlanta having the best record in baseball at 60-29 and an 8½-game lead in the NL East. Tampa Bay has the best record in the American League at 58-35, two games better than Baltimore.
MANFRED HAS NO INTENTION OF ALTERING PETE ROSE’S LIFETIME BAN FROM BASEBALL
SEATTLE (AP) — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has no intention of altering Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball, and said the sport’s commercial deals with gambling companies have no impact on the status of the career hits leader.
Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for Major League Baseball by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.
The Hall of Fame’s board decided in 1991 that players on the permanently ineligible list also may not appear on the Hall ballot. Rose asked the Hall in 2016 to change the rule.
Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997 and met with Commissioner Bud Selig in 2002, but Selig never ruled on Rose’s application. Manfred succeeded Selig in 2015 and rejected Rose’s application.
“We’ve always approached the issue of gambling from the proposition that players and other people who are in a position to influence the outcome of the game are going to be subject to a different set of rules than everyone else in the world,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday.
“Pete Rose violated what is sort of rule one in baseball, and the consequences of that are clear in the rule, and we’ve continued to abide by our own rules,” Manfred added. “It’s just the rules are different for players. It’s part of the responsibility that comes with the privilege of being a major league player.”
Manfred minimized MLB’s revenue from gaming companies.
“I think people believe we make more money off gambling than we actually do,” he said.
MLB SAYS TEAMS HAVE GOTTEN 94% OF MONEY OWED TO THEM BY DIAMOND SPORTS
SEATTLE (AP) — Major League Baseball says teams have collected 94% of the money they have been owed by Diamond Sports.
The company controls 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner and has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Texas since March. MLB took over rights to San Diego Padres telecasts on May 31 after a rights payment was missed.
“Of the rights fees that have come due, I think we’ve collected 94% of those rights fees so far. And that’s really important,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “We have backstopped clubs to make sure that there isn’t some unforeseen alteration in their revenue, and all that’s designed to put clubs in a position to not have disruption when it comes to the most important side of their business, that is putting a good team on the field.”
MLB’s sales of Padres broadcasts in San Diego are “well into the five figures,” according to Manfred.
“Well before the Diamond bankruptcy, we were kind of on the topic of that part of the media landscape changing,” he said. “Our goal from the beginning has been to make a transition from the current situation into a new model that did two things, number one, increase the availability of our games to fans, and number two, to minimize any financial disruption for clubs.”
ATLANTA’S TRUIST PARK AND CHICAGO’S WRIGLEY FIELD UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR MLB ALL-STAR GAMES
SEATTLE (AP) — The Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs are under consideration for upcoming All-Star Games.
Next year’s game is scheduled for the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field in Arlington, and the 2026 game will be at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The 2021 All-Star Game was awarded to Atlanta’s Truist Park by Major League Baseball in 2019 but in April 2021 was moved to Denver’s Coors Field following objections to sweeping changes to Georgia’s voting laws.
“Atlanta is in the mix of clubs for the ’25 All-Star Game,” Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I’m not prepared to go past that for right now.”
Chicago’s Wrigley Field last hosted the All-Stars in 1990.
“As time goes by, I’ve been more focused on keeping track of when a game was last there and trying to get back to places where we haven’t been in a really long time,” Manfred said. “That’s a long time.”
MLB EXPERIMENTING WITH PEARL WHITE BASEBALLS TO RID STICKY STUFF PROBLEM
SEATTLE (AP) — Pristine white baseballs that would not require rubbing are under consideration by Major League Baseball as a way to solve the issue of pitchers using sticky substances for better grip.
“We continue to work with the people at Dow Chemical on developing a tacky ball,” Commissioner Ron Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “It would literally eliminate all — well, not all — but many of the variables in the current process. It would come out of a sealed foil pouch at the ballpark. No individual mudding.”
MLB executive vice president Morgan Sword said the balls were tested in the first half of this season in the Double-A Southern League. The balls would retain colored stitches.
“Like everything in baseball, when you inch towards a solution, you figure out another problem,” Manfred said. “The baseball, if we get there with the Dow people, would be a pearl, right? A pure white baseball. I think if you take hitters and pitchers out front here and ask ‘em what they think of a pure white baseball, you’re going to find out that it’s a pretty controversial topic. So not only do we have the science that we’re continuing to work on but we’re going to have to get over that sort of policy issue of: Is a pure white baseball a good thing?”
Five pitchers have been suspended for 10 games each since MLB began its crackdown on banned grip substances in June 2021 by instituting regular inspections by umpires.
Seattle’s Hector Santiago and Arizona’s Caleb Smith served suspensions in 2021 and three were disciplined this season: the Mets’ Max Scherzer, the Yankees’ Domingo Germán on May 17 and the Mets’ Drew Smith on June 14.
“The suspensions that we have had would fall into the category of clear-to-egregious violations,” Manfred said. “I understand that feeling someone’s hand is inherently subjective. I think this is an area where umpires, again, with a difficult topic, have shown great judgment and discretion. I think gray areas, players have definitely been given the benefit of the doubt.”
Baseballs currently are rubbed with mud to make them less slick. MLB standardized rubbing procedures among the 30 teams last year.
MLB OPEN TO CONSIDER INCREASING TIME ON PITCH CLOCK IN POSTSEASON
SEATTLE (AP) — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will consider increasing time on the pitch clock for the postseason but is reluctant to adjust an innovation the sport considers a great success.
In the first season of the clock, the average time of a nine-inning game is 2 hours, 38 minutes, on track to be the fastest since 1984. It is down from 3:04 last year and 3:09 in 2021, the last season before PitchCom was introduced.
“We’re going to continue to talk to the players,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I think you ought to play the postseason the way you play the regular season. There’s exceptions. I’m open-minded on that topic.”
The clock is set at 15 seconds with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners. There also are restrictions on defensive shifts and limits on pitcher disengagements.
“I don’t believe there’s any player, nor do I believe there are too many folks that want to have a new rule dramatically affect a game in a pennant chase or in the playoffs,” union head Tony Clark told the BBWAA. “Players believe and we’ve been pretty consistent with this, that there are some adjustments that could be beneficial in the grand scheme of things so that we’re not having a conversation about a new rule and instead focused in on the game being played.”
MLB has a majority of the 11-member competition committee, which includes four players.
“We are comfortable with the way the clock and the violations, particularly late in the game in high-leverage situations we’ve been watching, have been managed,” Manfred said,
There were 721 violations through July 4, of which 501 were by pitchers, 208 by batters and 12 by catchers. Philadelphia’s Craig Kimbrel lead currently with 11 violations, followed by Toronto’s Chris Bassitt with nine and San Diego’s Joe Musgrove with seven.
“In a big spot,” Kimbrel said Monday, “if it’s 1-2, 0-2, I’m really thinking about my pitch and wanting to make a good pitch. I’m not going to rush just to get the pitch off. I’d rather take the ball.”
Left-handed batters are hitting .248, up 13 points through the similar point last season. Righties are hitting .248, up one point, leaving the overall batting average up six points.
Runs per game have increased to 9.1 from 8.7 and steals per game to 1.4 from 1.0.
Average attendance of 28,404 is up 8.1% from a similar time last year and on track to be the highest since 2018, and MLB says the median age of ticket buyers is 43, down from 46 in 2022 and 49 in 2019. This is the first season since 2000 with a balanced schedule.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS START THE PROCESS OF APPLYING TO MLB FOR A MOVE TO LAS VEGAS
SEATTLE (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have started the process of applying to Major League Baseball to move to Las Vegas.
MLB last month established a relocation committee to evaluate the move, a group headed by Milwaukee Brewers chairman Mark Attanasio. Philadelphia Phillies CEO John Middleton and Kansas City Royals CEO John Sherman also are on the committee.
“They have begun to submit information related to their relocation application,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “It’s not complete at this point.”
Nevada’s Legislature approved providing $380 million in public financing for a proposed $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof on the Tropicana hotel site of the Las Vegas Strip. The new venue would be close to Allegiant Stadium, where the NFL’s Oakland Raiders moved to in 2020, and T-Mobile Arena, where the newly crowned Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights started play in 2017 as an expansion team.
A move would have to be approved by at least 75% of the 30 major league teams.
“My single biggest disappointment is because of the kind of political process in Oakland, we didn’t find a solution to keep the A’s in Oakland,” Manfred said. “That’s number one on the disappointment list.”
Las Vegas would become the fourth home for a franchise that started in Philadelphia in 1901 (through 1954), moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons and arrived in Oakland in 1968.
The team’s lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season. It remains unclear where the team would play until a new ballpark opens in Las Vegas.
“Our relocation guidelines actually spell out pretty clearly what needs to be included in your application. One of the things that you have to include is what’s going to happen during the interim period,” Manfred said. “They have not made a submission on that topic yet.”
At 25-67, the A’s have the worst record in the major leagues and are on pace to finish 44-118, the worst record since the 2003 Detroit Tigers lost 119 games.
Oakland, with a major league-low $57.8 million opening-day payroll, is averaging a major league-low 10,089 attendance through 44 home games, up from 8,410 at a similar point last year. The A’s have had 26 home games drawing under 10,000, including a low of 2,064 against Arizona on May 15.
Since the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers for 1972, the only team to relocate has been the Montreal Expos, who became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
Manfred said MLB will consider expansion only after the A’s and Tampa Bay Rays obtain new ballparks.
“I hope pretty shortly thereafter we would put together an expansion committee and start talking internally first about this issues associated with expansion,” he said. “You’re talking about diminishing the central revenue available to each of the 30 (teams), making it 32. You got to figure out the impact of that and then you’ve got to talk about what you would be looking for in terms of an expansion fee in order to offset that.”
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch in January announced a plan for a ballpark that would be built near Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home since the team started play in 1998. The Rays have not committed to a site. Manfred said “I remain hopeful” of progress this year.
“They have stayed engaged with governmental entities throughout the Bay Area,” Manfred said. “I think that the conversations have moved into — throughout the region — have moved into a more concrete period, a concrete zone in terms of the conversations that are going on.”
As part of an expansion decision, Manfred envisions MLB examining the competition format.
“If you’re going to go to 32, are you going to make format divisional changes? What should it look like?” Manfred said. “So there’s some internal work that’s going to take some time to get done. And then I think ultimately you go to the markets.”
Speaking before Manfred, union head Tony Clark said players are willing to discuss reducing the schedule from 162 games.
“That conversation often stops with the conversation that we had during COVID, which is rolling back player salaries,” Clark said. “So if there’s a conversation to be had about creating extra flexibility in the schedule and what that might look like, whether that’s 154 games, 158 games, 160 games, we can continue that to have that dialogue.”