CINCINNATI — Mike Trout’s first career All-Star Game at-bat, in 2012 at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, resulted in a single to center field.
His first at-bats in each of his next two All-Star Games ended in a double and triple, respectively. So it was only fitting for baseball’s best all-around player to complete his de facto All-Star Game cycle on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park, sending the fourth pitch of the 86th midsummer classic the opposite way and over the right-field wall.
Contributing a home run, two runs and a walk to the American League’s 6-3 win, Trout, still a mere 23, was named the game’s MVP for the second straight time, an All-Star Game first.
The long ball came on a 1-2 fastball against the hottest pitcher in baseball in Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke, who will enter the season’s second half riding a 352/3- inning scoreless streak.
Trout, the reigning AL MVP, is 5 for 10 in his four All-Star Games (three starts) with four of his hits going for extra bases. He earned MVP honors in last year’s game in Minnesota after doubling, tripling and driving in two runs.
The win was the AL’s third straight. The NL leads all-time, 43-41-2.
Jonathan Papelbon, the Phillies’ lone all-star this season, did not pitch in the game. Milwaukee Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates closer Mark Melancon and Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman pitched the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively, for the National League.
Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals hit a run-scoring double and singled to stake his MVP claim. Texas Rangers slugger Prince Fielder drove in a pair of runs. But there was never much doubt Trout would again get the nod.
The lone blemish in the center fielder’s night was a third-inning strikeout against Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole, the major-league wins leader (13). Reigning NL MVP Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers induced a Trout groundout in the fifth that would have been a double play if Trout hadn’t busted it down the first-base line. He scored on Fielder’s pinch-hit single to put the AL ahead, 2-1.
Trout’s night ended in the seventh after he worked a walk against Rodriguez. Boston Red Sox utility man Brock Holt replaced him as a pinch-runner, stole second base and scored on a double from the Baltimore Orioles’ Manny Machado.
Jhonny Peralta of the St. Louis Cardinals drove in the NL’s first run on a second-inning single that scored the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt. Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates’ star center fielder, drilled a first-pitch slider from Tampa Bay Rays ace Chris Archer into the left-field seats for a solo homer in the sixth inning. Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun doubled and scored in the ninth.
Greinke, starting his first All-Star Game but pitching in his third, logged the first two innings before giving way to Cole. Greinke became the first All-Star Game pitcher with four strikeouts since Pedro Martinez in 1999. AL starter Dallas Keuchel, the Houston Astros’ lefthander, also allowed one run over two innings.
Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom made All-Star Game history of his own in the sixth, becoming the first pitcher in the game’s history to strike out the side with 10 pitches or fewer.
