Miguel Vargas gave the American League the kind of exclamation point the All-Star Game usually doesn’t need, launching the only extra-base hit of the night in a 4-0 win over the National League in Philadelphia.
The result was never really in doubt once the AL grabbed control early. The National League managed only three hits all night, struck out 15 times and never put together a real rally, leaving all five of its baserunners stranded. The AL, meanwhile, pieced together seven hits, went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
Cody Bellinger’s two-run single in the first inning ended up carrying the biggest weight on the scoreboard, and he was named All-Star Game MVP. The inning started with Cristopher Sánchez striking out Mike Trout, but the AL quickly turned the frame around. Yordan Alvarez delivered the game’s first hit and later scored, while Sánchez also walked Shea Langeliers and Bobby Witt Jr. to load the bases before getting Junior Caminero to ground out for the second out.
That’s when the Yankees duo struck. Bellinger lined a 101 mph two-run single up the middle, and Ben Rice followed with an even harder 107 mph RBI single through the middle to make it 3-0. All three runs in the inning came with two outs, and that early burst was more than enough for the American League.
Sánchez was charged with three of the four AL runs and took the loss, while Dylan Cease handled the opening inning for the AL and struck out the side. He walked Freddie Freeman for the only blemish in an otherwise hitless frame, needing 24 pitches to get through it while working with the mic on.
Cease earned the win after his three-strikeout inning, and the next seven AL pitchers each earned a hold. In all, 10 of the 11 AL pitchers recorded at least one strikeout.
Juan Soto got the NL on the board in the fourth with its first hit off Joe Ryan, who then struck out Freeman and CJ Abrams to snuff out the threat. Pete Crow-Armstrong added another single in the eighth, but the National League never turned either knock into anything meaningful.
The AL added one more run in the middle innings when Miguel Vargas, in the game after Junior Caminero left with a hand injury, crushed a 433-foot solo homer into the second deck in left. It came off Justin Wrobleski and stood as the night’s only extra-base hit. Vargas had earlier lined out at 104.3 mph to Andy Pages in center, but he made his next chance count.
Caminero’s exit came after Riley O’Brien hit him on the hand in the third. X-rays were negative, and he still expects to start the next series beginning Friday.
The final inning brought a couple more White Sox appearances. Tristan Peters entered in right field for Bellinger in the sixth and later caught a William Contreras fly ball.
Munetaka Murakami came in at first base in the seventh, and both Peters and Murakami struck out in their lone at-bats. Peters used a challenge and lost it, while Murakami was retired by Mason Miller on a 102 mph fastball.
Otto Lopez got the National League’s last hit with two outs in the ninth before Bryan Baker finished the game with a groundout. Lopez, though, was singled out as a player who deserves more national attention, with the source noting his strong year for the Marlins, his fifth-place ranking in WAR and his .334 batting average.
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