The American League won the 2013 MLB All-Star Game as they gave the National League a diet of great pitching. The A.L. used timely offense, winning the game 3-0 as 10 pitchers came out to shut down the talented N.L. lineup.
The A.L. didn't destroy the ball when they scored, but they played smart baseball. Jose Bautista hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Miguel Cabrera from third base in the top of the fourth. J.J. Hardy then grounded into a force out as Brandon Phillips and Troy Tulowitzki couldn't turn the double-play, while teammate Adam Jones scored from third base in the fifth inning.
When the almost automatic Craig Kimbrel pitched the top of the eighth, he was greeted by back-to-back hits by Salvador Perez and Jhonny Peralta. After a double play, Jason Kipnis took Kimbrel opposite field, driving in Perez from third base for a 3-0 lead.
As far as pitching, the A.L. held the National league to only three hits on the night. It took Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Felix Hernandez, Matt Moore, Grant Balfour, Greg Holland, Brett Cecil, Steve Delabar, Mariano Rivera and Joe Nathan. The 10 only allowed four base runners as Hernandez, Holland and Nathan gave up hits, while Balfour allowed a walk. They also combined for six strikeouts. Nathan came into close it out in the ninth inning and ran into a little bit of trouble as Paul Goldschmidt smacked a double to right with two outs. Pedro Alvarez put up a fight, but he popped out to second base.
A touching moment at the All-Star game came when Mariano Rivera came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning. It didn't matter that he was wearing a New York Yankee jersey his entire career. The entire stadium was on their feet and there were no players on the field behind him as he warmed up.
He faced Jean Segura, Allen Craig and Carlos Gomez. Segura and Gomez grounded out while Craig got a hold of a pitch that got too much plate, but Alex Gordon retreated to make the play. It was three up, three down for Rivera in his final All-Star game appearance.
The N.L. had decent pitching and a lot of credit has to be given to Matt Harvey, the starter, who got into trouble in the first inning. He allowed a first-pitch double to Mike Trout and then hit Robinson Cano in the quadriceps on just the third pitch of the game. It was frustrating for Harvey and scary for the New York Yankees as well as for Cano. Like Ken Rosenthal said, Cano is the one guy the Yankees can't risk getting injured.
With runners on first and second with nobody out, Harvey stood his ground and bounced back to retire three of the A.L.'s toughest hitters. He struck out Miguel Cabrera, got Chris Davis to popup and then struck out Jose Bautista.
It was the first time in the last four years that the American League won the All-Star Game. Now, the winner of the A.L. Pennant will have home field advantage in the 2013 World Series.
-UPDATE- Marino Rivera was named the 2013 All-Star Game MVP.
