The National League ended a nine-game losing streak against the American League in the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday. The winning hit came from maybe the last player you'd expect.
Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Díaz, appearing in his first career All-Star Game at 32 years old after nine seasons in the majors, hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the NL a 3-2 win at Seattle's T-Mobile Park. It's the league's first win since 2012.
Díaz entered this season hitting .244/.299/.384 in his career but made the All-Star team after hitting a moderately better .277/.328/.435 in the first half. Even so, his numbers hardly stood out among his teammates, and he was facing arguably MLB's top reliever in Félix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles. Bautista holds a 1.07 ERA, 23 saves and 84 strikeouts in 42 innings this season.
In a 2-2 count, Bautista threw his splitter, against which batters are hitting .143/.196/.179 in 2023, per Baseball Savant — and Díaz took it for a ride. He was overjoyed as he ran the bases.
That homer was enough to earn Díaz All-Star Game MVP honors.
"I was caught up in the moment," Díaz told Fox Sports afterward through an interpreter. "I had never really thought I would be in this position in my career, but to be able to contribute to the win and be the MVP, that's something really special."
Díaz entered the game with a strong personal endorsement from Rockies manager Bud Black, who NL manager Rob Thomson said told him, “This is one of the finest people you’ll ever meet. ... If he doesn’t play, that’s fine. If he does play, that’d be great. He’s just happy to be there.”
Camilo Doval of the San Francisco Giants got the win, Bautista took the loss, and Philadelphia Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel got the save, though Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco came a few feet shy of tying the game with a shot to the warning track in the ninth inning.
Here's everything else that went down during a fun game in Seattle.
All-Star Game opened with highlight-reel catches by Adolis García and Randy Arozarena
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole got the start. On paper, it was an effective and efficient inning, as he put down all three batters on nine pitches.
In practice, however, it was an adventure.
Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. nearly hit an opposite-field home run to open the game, but a brilliant catch by the Texas Rangers' Adolis García in right field robbed him. Then Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena, who was roommates with García when they were both St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, made a similarly excellent catch in left field against Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman.
“You got to trust your defense. I mean, I'm here to throw strikes," Cole said. "I was a little more worried about Freddie’s than I was about Ronald's, but either way, like, yeah, you’ve got to trust your defense. You got world-class guys out there running down the ball. So I think it worked out great.”
Arozarena also chipped in a hit in the bottom of the inning but was caught stealing to end the frame.