For the first time since 2013, there was a shutout in the MLB All-Star Game. Eleven American League pitchers blanked the National League at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Tuesday night (AL 4, NL 0). Those 11 AL pitchers held the NL to three hits and two walks. They struck out 15. The AL has won 11 of the last 13 All-Star Games.
Most of the scoring came almost immediately in the top of the first inning. The AL hung three runs on hometown Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez, who loaded the bases with two outs before surrendering back-to-back RBI singles to New York Yankees teammates Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice. Bellinger drove in two runs, Rice one.
The two-run single earned Bellinger All-Star MVP homers. He is the fourth Yankee to win All-Star Game MVP, joining Derek Jeter (2000), Mariano Rivera (2013), and Giancarlo Stanton (2022). Bellinger went 1 for 3 in the game overall. He was in the starting lineup as an injury replacement for Yankees teammate Aaron Judge (rib fracture).
“It’s special, man. Wearing this jersey, I feel proud wearing it,” Bellinger said after the game on Tuesday. “It comes with a lot. I just try to put my best foot forward every day and give it everything I got.”
Bellinger, 31, was an All-Star for the third time in his career this season, and the first time since his 2019 NL MVP season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“It means a lot,” Bellinger said on Monday about returning to the All-Star Game. “I’m really enjoying it. Not that I took it for granted last time, but I was so young, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be here every year.’ And it’s not like that. It’s hard. It’s hard to be an All-Star.”
Bellinger is hitting .254/.345/.421 with 11 home runs this season. He signed a five-year, $162.5 million contract to return to the Yankees this past offseason. He was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs as part of New York’s pivot after losing Juan Soto to the crosstown rival New York Mets.
