AL 8, NL 6: Aaron Judge’s home run gets the scoring started in DC

For the sixth consecutive year, the American League has come away with a win in the All-Star Game. This year’s game turned into a bit of a home run derby, but by the time the balls stopped flying out of the park, the AL was ahead 8-6.

While neither of the two Yankees who played were in for the game for the deciding moments, they both had good games.

From a Yankees perspective, all the action was confined to the second inning. In the top half of the inning, Aaron Judge homered to score the game’s first run. The solo shot marks Judge’s first hit in an All-Star Game, and is the first for any Yankee since Derek Jeter’s two in 2014. Little did we know at the time, he was starting a trend for this year’s game.

Judge got two other plate appearances in the game, walking in the fourth inning, and grounding out in the sixth.

The other Yankee that was able to play in the game was Luis Severino. The Yankees’ ace didn’t get the start, but he was the first pitcher out of the bullpen for the AL. He used his time before coming into the game to catch Judge’s home run while warming up.

When Severino did take the mound, he allowed a double to Matt Kemp to start the inning. However after that, he looked like the Sevy we all know and love, leaving Kemp stranded thanks to strikeouts of Bryce Harper and Brandon Crawford.

As far as the game’s other runs, there were a lot of home runs.

The AL doubled their lead in the third inning when Mike Trout homered. The NL then got a run right back in the bottom of the inning when Wilson Contreras hit a dinger of his own. It took until the seventh inning for the next runs, but the NL tied the game when Trevor Story, hit yet another solo home run.

Later in the game, the American League would break the tie with something other than a solo home run. With two on in the top of the eighth, Jean Segura tried something new and hit a three-run home run, putting the AL back in front.

Christian Yelich got a run back in the bottom of the eighth, and it seemed like that’s as far as any NL rally would get. Mariners’ reliever Edwin Diaz got the first out of the ninth, but then issued a walk to J.T. Realmuto. Scooter Gennett was then next up in the home run derby, hitting a two-run shot to tie the game again.

The tie wouldn’t last long. A pair of Astros, Alex Bregman and George Springer, led off the tenth with back-to-back home runs, reinstating the AL’s two-run lead. Later in the tenth, we actually got a run that wasn’t scored on a home run, when Michael Brantley scored Segura on a sac fly. So see, there was something there for small ball fans too.

The scoring wasn’t over yet, as Joey Votto got us back on track with a home run in the bottom of the tenth. That would finally be it, as J.A. Happ got the next three outs to finally close out a win. Bregman got MVP honors for breaking the tie.

With that, the All-Star festivities comes to a close. We still have two off days to go, but regular season baseball will soon be upon us again.

Box score.