ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge had not yet finished his compliment of Shohei Ohtani during a midgame interview in the third inning of Major League Baseball’s 94th All-Star Game when the unicorn he was describing interrupted.
“It’s incredible what he does year in and year out,” Judge began on the broadcast, “and you think about this year, where he’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he’s hitting .316 with 30 homers. It’s just incredible …”
THWACK!
Judge might be clairvoyant. Ohtani was actually at 29 home runs on the year at the time of the interview, but the three-run, 400-foot blast Ohtani lifted off Tanner Houck in the middle of Judge’s conversation in the third inning gave him 30 since Opening Day.
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It also started — and ended — the scoring for the National League as the American League stormed back to reclaim its All-Star reign.
Here are my top takeaways from the AL’s 5-3 win.
1. Jarren Duran takes home MVP, continuing Boston’s surge through the break
Appropriately, the Ted Williams All-Star Game MVP went to a Boston position player. Winning the award required besting one of the hardest-throwing starters in the sport.
Duran was hoping to get a first-pitch fastball so he could see just how hard Hunter Greene throws. He watched a fastball go by, then took advantage when he saw something softer, turning on an 0-1 splitter from the Reds flamethrower that caught too much of the zone for a go-ahead, 413-foot home run in the fifth inning.
That would be the difference in the game.
“There’s so many good players in this league, and I’m just thankful I can play against these guys,” Duran said. “It’s hard to put into words. I feel like it won’t hit me until I try to go to sleep tonight.”
Jarren Duran launches two-run HR and gives AL a 5-3 lead
After the homer, Duran — who has followed last year’s breakout season with an even better one, entering the break with the major-league lead in triples (10), the American League lead in doubles (27) and a career best in homers (10) — said he couldn’t stop thinking about his family and seeing them after the game.
In the postgame press conference, he said he had six or seven family members in attendance.
“Eight!” his family corrected him from the back of the press conference room.
Boston ended the first half as one of the hottest teams in baseball, winners of 21 of their past 30 games. They’re only 4.5 games back in the AL East and would be playoff bound if the season ended today.
With Duran’s honor, the Red Sox continued their winning ways.
“We have a lot of young guys that love to play the game,” Duran said. “We play every game hard. We run out ground balls, put pressure on the defense. We’re just staying together and got each other’s backs.”
2. Ohtani gets the Sho going — a familiar site at Globe Life Field
Ohtani did not participate in Monday’s Home Run Derby, citing load management on his surgically-repaired right elbow. Next year, perhaps, when he is once again expected to take on his two-way duties, he will consider joining the field.
But while the fans at Monday’s derby weren’t able to watch his power display, those at the All-Star Game on Tuesday were in luck.
Ohtani is the first player ever to claim four straight starting assignments at designated hitter in the All-Star Game, and on Tuesday he wasted little time demonstrating why, delivering a souvenir on a 2-0 splitter from Houck that caught too much of the plate.
“In general, I haven’t really hit well during the All-Star Game, so I’m just relieved that I put a good ball in play,” Ohtani said through his translator.
Shohei Ohtani crushes three-run HR and gives NL early lead vs. AL
Hitting at Globe Life Field, however, is a different story.
Tuesday was a familiar site for the hometown Rangers crowd, which must have felt some déjà vu after watching its former division foe put on a power display last year like few hitters are capable of. Ohtani went 11-for-23 in this same ballpark with five home runs, all of which were hit to center or the opposite field and four of which traveling farther than 435 feet.
This time, he visited the more familiar part of the venue for left-handed hitters, pulling his 400-foot drive before being greeted in the dugout by a faceful of seeds from his teammate Teoscar Hernández, Monday’s derby winner. He became just the second Japanese-born player to homer in the All-Star Game and the first to hit a home run over the wall (in 2007, Ichiro Suzuki hit an inside-the-park home run), and he also became the first Dodger to hit a home run in an All-Star Game since Mike Piazza in 1996.
In a marvelous showing this weekend for the Dodgers‘ representatives, Ohtani said his favorite part of the festivities was, unsurprisingly, hitting in the game.
That was less of a joy for Houck, who still very much enjoyed the experience and credited Ohtani for a good swing on a 2-0 splitter that caught a lot of the plate. Getting to walk the red carpet with his wife and think back through the past two years — back surgery in 2022, a facial fracture in 2023 — to where he was now meant a lot to the Red Sox starter.
“The whole experience was just amazing,” Houck said. “MLB has done an incredible job putting on a show to make this All-Star Game special. I think it’s probably the best one out of the major sports in the U.S. To see the fans show up and the energy that they bring each and every day, I’ve tried to soak in every second of this because it’s a joy to be here and to represent the Boston Red Sox. I feel truly honored.”
3. The much-anticipated matchup arrives
A year ago, Paul Skenes was pitching in the College World Series and leading LSU to victory. Tuesday offered a different type of high-pressure environment as the youngest All-Star starting pitcher since Dwight Gooden in 1986 took the mound in front of 39,343 fans.
“I don’t think I blacked out when I was out there, but I was pretty close,” Skenes said.
If there were nerves, the 22-year-old rookie hid them well as he navigated around an American League gauntlet to put up a zero in his lone inning of work.
“In terms of a big moment, there’s not a whole lot else you can do to prepare for moments like this other than to pitch in moments like this,” Skenes said.
The Pirates phenom did not rack up strikeouts at his usual rate, but the result was just as productive. Skenes got Steven Kwan to pop out and Gunnar Henderson to ground out before Juan Soto stepped to the plate.
“I was trying to take him deep,” Soto said.
Paul Skenes tosses scoreless first inning in All-Star Game debut
After swinging through two of Skenes’ “splinkers,” he had to change that approach. Soto worked the count full, fouling off a four-seamer, then watching a curveball miss outside.
“Just kind of threw him everything,” Skenes said.
The last pitch was a 100-mph four-seamer that missed the zone, setting up one Yankees superstar for another.
Had Soto not reached base, it was unlikely the world would have gotten the marquee matchup of Skenes vs. Judge.
“I wanted to make sure he faced him, too,” Soto said, “so I got my job done.”
Unfortunately, that matchup didn’t last long. Judge got a pitch to hit, with Skenes challenging the home run leader on a 99.7 mph fastball, but Judge grounded it to third base for a force out.
RELATED: ‘Must-watch TV’: Paul Skenes and his ‘splinker’ take center stage at MLB All-Star Game
While the NL held Judge off the board, keeping Soto down proved too tall a task. Two innings later, he laced a two-run base hit up the middle off Logan Webb, stretched the single into a double and came around to score on a game-tying David Fry single. Immediately, the lead Ohtani helped build for the National League was erased.
From Ohtani to Soto to Skenes, the stars delivered quickly.
As Skenes reflected on the weekend, he said it was surreal to share a dugout with Ohtani: “I don’t know of any hitters I’ve faced that are better than him in my career.”
But the coolest part of the weekend for Skenes was that, on a roster filled with players he grew up watching and admiring, he felt like one of the guys.
“They’re so accepting and welcomed me with open arms into the clubhouse, and they’re super supportive, watching my start,” Skenes said. “It was just really cool. Definitely feel like I’m one of them.”
4. Mason Miller brings the heat
Skenes was not the only rookie to sizzle.
In his first All-Star Game, Athletics closer Mason Miller got a flyout from Ketel Marte, struck out Ohtani, then set a Statcast All-Star record with a 103.6 mph fastball against Trea Turner before setting down the Phillies shortstop in a 12-pitch fifth inning that earned him the win.
Unsurprisingly, he knows his lasting memory will be the strikeout of Ohtani.
“It’s hard for it not to be,” Miller said.
The 25-year-old didn’t know he’d be facing the two-time MVP until the moment the opportunity arrived. He said he tried to be a little more fine than usual, and the tactic worked out. In a 1-1 count, Miller hit the bottom of the zone with a 102 mph fastball before getting Ohtani swinging on an inside slider.
“Those are the guys you want to face when you come here, the best of the best,” Miller said. “Obviously, him hitting a home run earlier made it even more of a big moment, so I was excited to get in there and face him.”
As for the 103.6 mph pitch, which bested Aroldis Chapman’s previous mark?
“Mission accomplished,” Miller said.
5. The AL is back in a familiar spot
The National League’s All-Star reign was short-lived.
Elias Díaz’s late home run last year in Seattle ended a nine-year skid for the National League, but the AL needed only five hits Tuesday to return to its familiar place.
The AL has dominated the game in recent years, winning 10 of 11 All-Star Games and going 22-4-1 over the past 27 competitions to surge ahead in the all-time series (48-44-2).
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, L.A. Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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