Houston Astros teammates Alex Bregman and George Springer stepped up when needed most, hammering consecutive homers in the 10th inning to carry the American League to an 8-6 win over the National League in Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game at Nationals Park.
Bregman broke a 5-5 tie with a solo shot, while Springer made it a two-run edge with another long ball, both off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling, to carry the AL team to their sixth straight All-Star victory.
With the win, the AL improved to 44-43-2 against the NL. Bregman, for his part, earned the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award for his key role in the victory in the Midsummer Classic.
Explaining his homer, Bregman says he took Stripling's first pitch down the middle as he was trying to put a line drive in play. After hitting the solo homer, Bregman called it "crazy" and a "lot of fun."
All-Star Game Featured 10 Homers
Both teams broke the record for most homers in an All-Star game, recording 10 long balls. The number was enough to break the record set in 1971. Aside from Bregman and Springer, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, and Jean Segura of the Seattle Mariners homered for the AL.
Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs, Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers, Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies, and Cincinnati Reds' Scooter Gennett and Joey Votto hit long balls for the NL team. Almost all of the runs on the board were driven by home runs, aside from Michael Brantley's run-scoring sacrifice fly in the 10th that gave the AL an 8-5 lead.
"To kind of empty your tank and hit homers at this event is probably the best thing imaginable," said AL and Astros manager AJ Hinch, adding that he turned emotional after his players hit huge homers in the 10th inning that put the game away for the AL.
NL Launched Comeback To Force 10th Inning
Segura hit a pinch-hit three-run homer off Josh Hader to break a 2-2 tie and put the AL comfortably ahead, 5-2. However, Yelich hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth, while Gennett send the game to extra innings with a two-run homer off Mariners closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth.
Diaz earned the win for the AL while Stripling took the loss for the NL team. J.A. Happ gave up a solo shot to Votto in the 10th, but got the last three outs via strikeout, groundout and flyout to earn the save.
The Cleveland Indians will host the 90th staging of the MLB All-Star Game at Progressive Field. The Indians last hosted a Midsummer Classic game in 1997.
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