SAN DIEGO (AP) The Latest on the All-Star Game (all times local):
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8:27 p.m.
Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer homered and drove in two runs, Royals teammate Salvador Perez also hit a two-run homer, and the American League won its fourth consecutive All-Star Game, beating the NL 4-2 Tuesday night.
Hosmer and Perez provided enough offense in the early innings for the AL to win the midsummer classic for the 15th time in the last 19 years. The AL will get home-field advantage again in the World Series.
Hosmer and Perez both connected in a six-pitch span of the second inning against San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto, their Royals teammate on last season’s World Series-winning team.
David Ortiz had a walk and a line-drive out in what’s expected to be the final All-Star Game for the Boston slugger, who plans to retire this fall. The AL roster came onto the field when Ortiz left the game for a pinch-runner, embracing and congratulating him.
After AL starter Chris Sale gave up a homer to Chicago crosstown rival Kris Bryant, the AL’s pitching staff largely shut down the NL. Astros reliever Will Harris struck out St. Louis’ Aledmys Diaz with two runners on to end the eighth, and Baltimore’s Zach Britton closed it out in his native Southern California.
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7:52 p.m.
The National League has only two innings left to prevent the American League from winning its fourth straight All-Star Game and its 15th in 19 years.
Pittsburgh’s Matt Melancon got Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor on a bases-loaded groundout to end the seventh, keeping the AL’s lead at 4-2.
But since Kris Bryant’s first-inning homer, the NL has managed just one extra-base hit and stranded seven runners in seven innings.
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7:48 p.m.
Players and fans at the All-Star Game took a moment to Stand Up 2 Cancer.
At the end of the fifth inning, the All-Star teams stood in front of their dugouts. Fans also stood, holding up signs with the names of loved ones either fighting cancer or lost to the disease.
New York Mets manager Terry Collins, who is leading the NL team, had a sign honoring general manager Sandy Alderson, who has an unspecified form of the disease.
Rachel Platten, who sang the national anthem, sang her hit, ”Fight Song.”
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7:08 p.m.
San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto had a rough All-Star start largely thanks to some old friends.
Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez homered off their former teammate in the second inning to put the American League ahead early in the 87th All-Star Game. Cueto yielded five hits and three runs while getting only five outs.
”I’m not trying to make excuses, but sometimes you get up and you don’t feel well,” Cueto said. ”This morning I got up and didn’t feel well. That is not an excuse. I wanted to go out there and pitch and do the best I could.”
Cueto was a teammate of Hosmer and Perez during the Royals’ run to the World Series title last year.
”I would have loved to be able to get them out, but I just left two pitches up and that was the story,” Cueto said.
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6:45 p.m.
The American League leads the National League 4-2 after four innings in the 87th All-Star Game.
Eric Hosmer of the Royals homered in the second inning and added an RBI single in the fourth. His Kansas City teammate, Salvador Perez, also delivered a two-run homer in the second.
Miami’s Marcell Ozuna got one back for the NL in the fourth with an RBI single, scoring Buster Posey.
The game was slightly delayed before the bottom of the fourth inning while workers removed what appeared to be a dead bird from the infield.
The gray bird appeared between first and second base. The Petco Park grounds crew swiftly got the bird into a bucket and off the field.
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6:30 p.m.
If Big Papi was hoping for a big moment in his final All-Star Game, he didn’t get it.
David Ortiz, the Boston Red Sox star who has announced he’ll retire at season’s end, walked against Miami’s Jose Fernandez in the third inning and was lifted for pinch-runner Edwin Encarnacion.
Fernandez had said on Monday that he’d groove a pitch for Ortiz. While he threw a few fastballs in the 90s, the slugger didn’t connect.
After drawing ball four, Ortiz playfully had words with Fernandez.
A few moments after Ortiz reached first, AL manager Ned Yost sent in Encarnacion. Ortiz left to warm applause as he hugged his teammates.
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6:22 p.m.
Even skateboarders can dig the long ball.
Element, located up the freeway from the All-Star Game in Costa Mesa, announced a licensing partnership with Major League Baseball to create a series of skateboards with the colors and logos of all 30 teams.
The announcement was in conjunction with Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at Petco Park.
Element even had a booth at FanFest displaying the MLB offerings.
While decks representing all 30 teams will be available, Element will offer $100 complete skateboards of the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels.
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6:04 p.m.
A Canadian singing quartet delivered a political message during its pregame performance of ”O Canada” at the 87th All-Star Game.
The Tenors, a group based in British Columbia, changed a lyric in their national anthem during their on-field performance at Petco Park while one member of the group held up a sign reading ”All Lives Matter.”
In the middle portion of the anthem, which is often sung in French, the Tenors changed one line to: ”We’re all brothers and sisters. All lives matter to the great.”
Although the audio wasn’t crystal-clear at the park, many fans reacted with surprise. The Canadian anthem wasn’t shown live on U.S. television, but it aired in Canada, where the Tenors’ decisions lit up social media with overwhelming criticism of the change.
The Tenors are Clifton Murray, Fraser Walters, Remigio Pereira and Victor Micallef. The Juno Award-winning group has recorded multiple platinum albums in Canada.
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5:53 p.m.
Mike Trout keeps on knocking down milestones at All-Star games.
The Los Angeles Angels star singled in the first inning, improving to 6 for 11 with two walks in his 13 All-Star plate appearances.
Trout, the 2014 AL MVP, also won the MVP award at the last two All-Star games.
The single gave him a five-game hitting streak in All-Star play. Mickey Mantle, Joe Morgan and Dave Winfield had seven-game streaks, and Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Nellie Fox hit in six apiece.
According to the Angels, Trout is the first AL player to get a hit in each of his first five All-Star games, joining NL stars Joe Morgan, Willie Mays, Steve Garvey, Carlos Beltran and David Wright.
Trout also became the sixth player in All-Star history with four first-inning hits, joining Mays, Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter, Musial and Ichiro Suzuki.
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5:37 p.m.
Big Papi participated in the All-Star Game even before settling into the batter’s box as the American League’s DH.
David Ortiz, the Boston star who is retiring at season’s end, brought the lineup card out to the home plate meeting with the umpires and NL manager Terry Collins of the New York Mets.
Ortiz, playing in his 10th All-Star Game, is batting fourth for the AL, which is the designated home team.
In his first at-bat in the first inning, Ortiz fouled off several pitches before lining out sharply to the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo at first base.
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5:35 p.m.
They couldn’t play an All-Star Game in San Diego without a nice tribute to Tony Gwynn.
Gwynn, the sweet-swinging outfielder known as Mr. Padre, died of salivary gland cancer on June 16, 2014, at age 54.
After a video tribute showing some of Gwynn’s many highlights, his widow, Alicia, and their two adult children, Anisha and Tony Jr. and their spouses, came out to join Hall of Famer Rod Carew and his family as the crowd chanted ”Tony! Tony! Tony!”
MLB announced that the players who post the highest batting averages in each league will now be known as the ”Tony Gwynn National League Batting Champion” and the ”Rod Carew American League Batting Champion.”
Gwynn played his entire 20-season career with the Padres, who unveiled a larger-than-life bronze statue of Gwynn days before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.
The statue shows Gwynn in the middle of his left-handed swing. It is located in the Park at the Park beyond the outfield at Petco Park.
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5:32 p.m.
The pregame ceremonies for the All-Star game had a decided Padres flavor.
Randy Jones, the 1976 Cy Young Award winner, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Then Trevor Hoffman, an All-Star closer with San Diego who nearly was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, emerged from the bullpen accompanied by AC/DC’s ”Hell’s Bells.”
Hoffman, wearing a 1998 Padres jersey and slacks, brought the game ball to the mound. He stopped a few times to gesture to the fans.
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5:21 p.m.
The 87th All-Star Game is underway, and it has a distinct Chicago flavor.
The Chicago Cubs’ Ben Zobrist flied out to center on the second pitch of the game from the Chicago White Sox’s Chris Sale.
Two batters later, Cubs slugger Kris Bryant crushed a solo homer to left, putting the NL ahead 1-0.
Bryant is 0 for 6 with six strikeouts against Sale in the regular season.
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4:57 p.m.
Pregame introductions are underway at Petco Park for the 87th All-Star Game.
The NL team is introduced first in its visitors’ gray uniforms. The host league is the visiting team for the first time in the game’s history because the game, which determines home-field advantage in the World Series, is being played in an NL park for the second of four consecutive years.
San Diego’s fans loudly booed the All-Stars from Los Angeles and San Francisco, their Padres’ biggest rivals. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw grinned broadly and acknowledged the jeers with a big wave.
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3:56 p.m.
David Ortiz was quick with an answer when asked what he hoped to get out of his 10th All-Star Game: ”Home field advantage.”
The winning league gets home-field advantage in the World Series, and Big Papi would love to wrap up his career at home in late October.
Kris Bryant also knows how much that would mean if the Chicago Cubs were to make it to the World Series.
”I know I’m going to go out there and try my best to impact the game,” Bryant said. ”You’re seeing more and more of what this game really means in the playoffs and home-field advantage. Playing in the wild-card game last year, we wished it was at Wrigley Field because the atmosphere was just intense as the visiting team.”
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3:40 p.m.
Big Papi has an appropriate throne for his All-Star finale.
David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox got the prime locker in the San Diego Padres’ clubhouse for the midseason classic. The slugger is set up in Matt Kemp’s locker, which comes with a big recliner.
Ortiz was mobbed by media and fans on the Petco Park field when he stepped out for batting practice. This is Ortiz’s 10th All-Star Game, and he’s feeling the vibe of what the game has brought to downtown San Diego.
”It never gets old,” he said. ”It’s always interesting. You always want to be part of it. The All-Star Game is the All-Star Game.”
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3:22 p.m.
The Chicago Cubs aren’t here to take part. They’re here to take over – one side of the visiting clubhouse at Petco Park.
The Cubs’ seven All-Stars occupied all but one locker on one clubhouse wall. In order from the door, the Cubs had Addison Russell, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler.
Julio Teheran of the Atlanta Braves was crammed into the far corner, the only other player with a locker on that row.
”It’s our whole row here,” Bryant said. ”To see our jerseys hanging here like this, it’s special. It says a lot about our fans. We’ve seen so much more excitement around our team early on this year. That’s huge for us to go out there under those situations.”
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3:12 p.m.
A bat used by Jackie Robinson in 1953 and a jersey worn by Sandy Koufax in 1966 were among the top six items sold during an auction at the All-Star FanFest.
Robinson’s bat sold for $103,500. The Koufax jersey went for $184,000.
The other top items were: a 1912 ”Smoky” Joe Wood Boston Red Sox world championship medallion, sold for $86,250; a ball signed in 1919 by Babe Ruth, sold for $63,250; and two Tony Gwynn national championship rings sold together for $112,125.
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2:58 p.m.
Jake Arrieta is more than willing to pitch for the NL in the All-Star Game if needed.
He would also welcome another day off as he attempts to recover his form for the second half of the season.
The Chicago Cubs right-hander left the decision up to manager Terry Collins as he prepared for his first All-Star experience at Petco Park.
”I told Terry that if I’m needed, I’m in,” Arrieta said in the NL clubhouse before the game. ”But if there’s other guys that really want to be in the game, I wouldn’t mind a day off.”
Arrieta struggled – by his standards, anyway – in his final five starts before the break, getting through no more than six innings in any of them. San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto was chosen for the All-Star start over last season’s Cy Young winner, and Arrieta said he understood the call.
Arrieta says it ”isn’t going to hurt anything” to pitch an inning of relief, but he’s not desperate to get into his first All-Star game.
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2:52 p.m.
Baseball fans are packing the streets of San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter in anticipation of the city’s first All-Star Game since 1992. Jerseys representing teams from across the country are everywhere, as are T-shirts with the All-Stars’ names and numbers in traditional Padres brown and gold.
Thousands of fans already entered Petco Park to watch batting practice before the players went to center field to pose for photos.
San Diego is hosting the midsummer classic for the third time, and the first in the Padres’ sparkling downtown stadium.
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11:10 a.m.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says a lawsuit filed by minor league players claiming they don’t earn the minimum wage ”is not a dollars-and-cents issue.”
Some minor leaguers earn as little as $1,100 a month, The suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco in 2014, could go to trial next year.
Manfred says the suit is about ”the irrationality of the application of traditional workplace overtime rules to minor league baseball players. It just makes no sense. I want to take extra BP. Am I working, or am I not working?”
He adds: ”This is an area where excessive regulation could have a really dramatic impact on the size of minor league baseball.”
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10:55 a.m.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred admits the sport ”slipped right at the beginning this year” when it comes to pace of play.
The average time of a nine-inning game was 3 hours, 13 seconds prior to the All-Star Game, according to the commissioner’s office. That is up from 2:53:04 at last year’s break but down from 3:02:41 during the first half in 2014.
Manfred says ”pace of play for me is like dandelions in your front lawn. I just can’t get rid of it.”
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10:50 a.m.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has made it clear that the Athletics’ search for a new ballpark will be confined to Oakland.
Manfred says, ”I am committed to Oakland as major league site. I think that if we were to leave Oakland, I think 10 years from now we would be more likely than not looking backwards saying we made a mistake.”
He adds: ”Oakland is more likely than not to be a better market five years from now than it is today.”
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10:34 a.m.
Major League Baseball is keeping expansion ”on the backburner” until Oakland and Tampa Bay get new ballparks.
Both teams have long sought new stadiums, but no proposals in their current territories have gained traction.
Commissioner Rob Manfred says ”the Tampa and Oakland situations need to be resolved. Both of those clubs need new major league quality facilities.”
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10:26 a.m.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says ”the absence of a Latino manager is glaring.”
Atlanta fired Fredi Gonzalez in May and replaced him on an interim basis with Brian Snitker.
Speaking to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Manfred says ”there are 30 jobs and there are 30 high turnovers jobs when you’re talking about field managers, and you’re going to have an ebb and flow in terms of diversity.”
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9:35 a.m.
David Ortiz’s jersey is the most popular this season, judging by sales on MLBShop.com between Jan. 1 and the All-Star Game.
Ortiz, 40, plans to retire at the end of the season and is a 10-time All-Star. He also topped the sales list during the 2013-14 offseason, after winning his third World Series title with the Boston Red Sox.
Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs is second, followed by Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo, the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout, San Francisco’s Buster Posey, the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta, St. Louis’ Yadier Molina, Washington’s Bryce Harper and the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard.
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9:27 a.m.
The concessionaire at Petco Park expects to sell 24,000 hot dogs, 16,000 orders of chicken fingers, 18,000 pounds of French fries, 98,000 peanuts and 45,000 bottles of water at the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game.
Delaware North executive chef at Petco Carlos Vargas created two new items for the game: a Hashtag Dog featuring a hot dog, tempura butter, club soda and shredded potato, and ASG Michelada drink with Estrella beer, poached shrimp, lime, habanero pepper, Clamato juice, lime juice and tajin spice.
Given the fresh fish in the area, items also include mahi mahi tacos and Ahi tuna poke stuffed avocado.
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