Cal Raleigh continues historic power season with Home Run Derby title
USA TODAY Sports’ Jesse Yomtov breaks down Cal Raleigh’s impressive Home Run Derby performance.
ATLANTA — The stage is set for Major League Baseball‘s 95th annual All-Star Game, being held this year at Truist Park, showcasing the game’s biggest stars in the Atlanta Braves‘ home stadium.
Pirates ace Paul Skenes started for the National League, the second year in a row he’d received the honor. For the American League, reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal took the mound to open the game.
“Anytime you get to be in a clubhouse with the game’s best and to go against the game’s best on the other side, it makes for a great product,” Skubal said a day before the game. “I hope the fans appreciate that, that this really is the game’s best players. It’s an honor to share the room with them.”
The AL and NL teams are managed by Aaron Boone (Yankees) and Dave Roberts (Dodgers), the skippers for the clubs that reached the 2024 World Series.
Follow along for live updates from Atlanta:
How to watch MLB All-Star GameTV channel: FoxLive stream: FoxSports.com, Fubo
American League swingers
Brent Rooker: 2 HRRandy Arozarena – 1 HRJonathan Aranda
National League
Kyle Stowers – 1 HRKyle Schwarber – 3 HRPete Alonso
Unlike typical regular-season and postseason MLB games, the All-Star Game does not feature extra innings. Instead, the leagues came up with an even more interesting way to determine a winner if the game is knotted up after nine innings: another Home Run Derby.
Each team will select three players to compete in a makeshift derby. Each player will receive just three swings to try to hit as many homers as possible, and whichever squad sends more out of the park in those nine tries wins the tiebreaker. – Tyler Nettuno, For The Win
With the NL clinging to a two-run lead in the ninth, things got dicey. NL manager Dave Roberts opted to start the inning with Padres closer Robert Suarez, who gave up a one-out RBI double to Bobby Witt Jr. That prompted Roberts to bring in the Mets’ Edwin Diaz, who retired the first batter he faced. But Steven Kwan’s infield single brought Witt home to score, tying the game.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ 23-year-old phenom was named an All-Star after just five career starts, which ruffled some feathers around baseball. NL manager Dave Roberts brought him on in a setup role with a 6-4 lead in the eighth inning, tossing a scoreless inning around a single and a couple of loud outs.
That counts as a hold for Misiorowski!
Athletics slugger Brent Rooker hit a three-run homer off the Giants’ Randy Rodriguez in the top of the seventh, cutting the AL’s 6-0 deficit in half. Maikel Franco followed Rookier’s blast with a walk and then stole second, advancing to third on a throwing error by catcher Hunter Goodman. Bobby Witt Jr.’s groundout brought Garcia in to score, making it a 6-4 game.
Atlanta had to wait four years for its All-Star tribute to Hank Aaron, the baseball icon and Hall of Famer who died in January 2021.
Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll hit a solo homer to right-center off Tigers right-hander Casey Mize, giving the NL a 6-0 lead just a few batters after Pete Alonso’s three-run homer.
Carroll, the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year, had 21 home runs, 10 triples and 11 stolen bases in the first half.
The New York Mets slugger clubbed a three-run homer to right field, an opposite-field blast off lefty Kris Bubic that extended the NL’s lead to 5-0.
Alonso entered the All-Star break with a .908 OPS, 21 homers and 77 RBIs. He’s just five home runs behind Darryl Strawberry on the Mets’ all-time list.
Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first inning remains the difference so far at Truist Park, with five NL pitchers –Paul Skenes, Clayton Kershaw, Jason Adam, Logan Webb and David Peterson – combining to toss four scoreless frames.
ATLANTA – The incessant pressure for Freddie Freeman to emote has mercifully come to an end.
From an on-camera interview moments before the All-Star Game in which Fox Sports asked all the leading questions, to an extra-long lingering over his name during pregame introductions that were otherwise conducted at one and a half times the usual speed, to a mid-inning defensive replacement, Freeman won’t have to think about crying anymore.
The crowd gave him an ovation and moved on. Perhaps someday the machinery that expects to wring tears out of the All-Star first baseman will, too. – Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY
Yankees lefty Carlos Rodon worked around Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-out double in the bottom of the second, getting Shohei Ohtani to ground out to first to end the threat.
The NL is 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, with Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first the runs so far.
Chosen for the All-Star roster as commissioner Rob Manfred’s “Legend Pick,” the future Hall of Fame southpaw relieved Paul Skenes in the second inning. A three-time Cy Young winner, Kershaw recently became the 20th pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts.
Kershaw – who was mic’d up – got Cal Raleigh to line out to left and struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking, before giving way to Padres reliever Jason Adam, walking off the field to a nice ovation from the crowd in Atlanta.
Shohei Ohtani singled to center and Ronald Acuña Jr. managed an infield single before Tarik Skubal recorded an out, bringing Ketel Marte to the plate in a big spot. The Diamondbacks slugger laced a double into the right field corner to plate two runs, with Acuña coming all the way around from first to score.
But Skubal limited the damage, getting Freddie Freeman to ground out before striking out Manny Machado and Will Smith.
Paul Skenes struck out American League leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres, and the 95th Midsummer Classic has begun here in Atlanta.
The Pittsburgh Pirates ace followed up by whiffing Riley Greene for the second out, then got Aaron Judge to ground out to second base to end the top of the first inning.
American League
Starting pitcher: Tarik Skubal, Tigers
2B Gleyber Torres, TigersLF Riley Greene, TigersRF Aaron Judge, YankeesC Cal Raleigh, Mariners1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue JaysDH Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles3B Junior Caminero, RaysCF Javier Baez, TigersSS Jacob Wilson, AthleticsNational League
Starting pitcher: Paul Skenes, Pirates
DH Shohei Ohtani, DodgersLF Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves2B Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks1B Freddie Freeman, Dodgers3B Manny Machado, PadresC Will Smith, DodgersRF Kyle Tucker, CubsSS Francisco Lindor, MetsCF Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
The 2025 Midsummer Classic is at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.
Series history: AL leads 48-44-2American League’s last win: 2024 (5-3 win)National League’s last win: 2023 (3-2 win)
The American League leads the National League 48-44-2 in the all-time series record of the MLB All-Star Game.
The American League has dominated the Midsummer Classic over the last decade, as the American League has won 11 of the last 12 All-Star Games. That dominance only strengthens for the American League when you go back further in the record books, as the American League has won 19 of the last 24 All-Star Games since 2000.
The National League’s longest win streak in the All-Star Game spanned from 1972 to 1982, when it won 11 consecutive games. The National League’s 11-game win streak is the longest win streak by a single league in the history of the All-Star Game.
The two ties in the All-Star Game came in 1961 and 2002. – John Leuzzi, USA TODAY Sports
ATLANTA — Misiorowski, who stands 6-foot-7, says it’s been a whirlwind since making his MLB debut on June 12, when he tossed five no-hit innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“The last five weeks have been insane,” Misiorowski said with a smile. “I was hoping for the All-Star break to be one of those times where you could sit back and kind of reflect on everything. But we’re here now and we’re doing this.”
National League manager Dave Roberts defended the inclusion of Misiorowski, who is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and 33 strikeouts in his five starts, touching 103 mph.
“My North Star is the All-Star Game should be the game’s best players. It’s about the fans and what they want to see,” Roberts said. “So for this young kid to be named an All-Star, I couldn’t be more excited for him. …
“It’s an easy answer because if it brings excitement, attention to our game, then I’m all about it.”
Misiorowski will get to pitch in the fifth, sixth or seventh inning of the game, Roberts said. – Jesse Yomtov, USA TODAY
ATLANTA — Yankees All-Star pitcher Carlos Rodon saw Jacob Wilson in the American League clubhouse Monday, stopped him, and moaned about the difficulty of pitching to him.
“I said, ‘Dude, I’m looking at scouting reports on you and it says to throw fastballs up and in because you’re not supposed to have any hard contact.’ I throw a four-seamer up and in, and you hit a double off me. Come on.’
“You don’t know what to expect with a guy that has low-miss, and can put up quality contact out there. It’s not fair. What do I do with a guy like this? You’re not going to strike him out.” – Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY
Next year’s All-Star Game will be held at CItizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The club lasted hosted the Midsummer Classic in 1996 at Veterans Stadium.