American League rolls to 6-3 All-Star win
National League's Clayton Kershaw, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, threw during the fifth inning of the MLB All-Star baseball game, Tuesday, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
CINCINNATI » Four pitches into the game, Zack Greinke left one a little bit up. At Great American Ball Park, it’s bad for a pitcher to be off, even by a very little.
The National League’s impressive pitching staff was a little off on Tuesday night starting with Greinke, giving the American League the small opening it needed to pull away for a 6-3 win in the All-Star Game.
Mike Trout opened the game with a solo homer, an opposite-field shot that landed in the first row in right field and reminded the NL of what happens when a pitch is left up in the hitter-friendly ballpark.
"It’s not easy," Greinke said. "You’ve got like a 2-inch window up in the (strike) zone. If you throw it higher than that, he takes it. If you throw it lower, he does what he did. I was trying to go a couple inches higher and I just missed my spot a little bit."
He wasn’t the only one.
Prince Fielder drove in a pair of runs with a single and a sacrifice fly, and Brian Dozier hit the last of the game’s three solo homers — yes, Great American played to its reputation. The AL had seven hits as it pulled away to its 14th win in the last 18 years.
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Greinke was manager Bruce Bochy’s choice to start based upon his 1.39 ERA, best in the majors. He hadn’t given up a run in his last five starts, going a career-high 35 2/3 innings without allowing a run.
The streak is intact because the All-Star Game doesn’t count toward season statistics. He wished he could have been perfect on Tuesday, too, in a game that decides home-field advantage for the World Series.
"I’d rather it have continued because this game is probably more important than the normal regular-season games, for the most part," he said.
Clayton Kershaw also struggled, giving up a pair of runs and three hits in the fifth inning highlighted by Fielder’s tiebreaking single.
"It was fun, except for giving up the runs," Kershaw said. "I felt fine. I wasn’t really throwing the ball where I wanted to."
It wasn’t all bad, though. Reds closer Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth and had the AL hitters shaking their heads on the bench as he hit triple-digits a dozen times, topping out at 103 mph as he struck out the side.
