Schwarber, NL win All-Star Game in 1st tiebreak HR swing-off

ATLANTA — Kyle Schwarber, a man built to smash baseballs over the wall, has never won a Home Run Derby. He lost in the finals in 2018 and failed to advance out of the first round four years later.

But on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Phillies slugger made home run history on the All-Star stage, pulverizing three pitches in three swings in the first swing-off to decide an All-Star Game, giving the National League a 4-3 home run edge to beat the American League at Truist Park after the score was tied at 6-6 through nine innings.

The performance was enough for Schwarber to win MVP honors in a game that began and ended with historic firsts.

This year’s exhibition was the first game to feature the automated ball-strike system at the major league level outside of spring training, an expected precursor to Major League Baseball implementing the arrangement for all games beginning next season.

The rules Tuesday were the same as the ABS challenge rules introduced during spring training. Each team received two challenges for the game. Only the pitcher, catcher or batter could request a challenge, and the request needed to be immediate without help from the dugout or other players on the field.

In the end, four pitches were challenged. The historic first was an 0-2 changeup that American League starter Tarik Skubal threw to San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado that plate umpire Dan Iassogna called a ball in the first inning. Skubal and his catcher Cal Raleigh didn’t agree, so they challenged the pitch to make history. The call was overturned, ending Machado’s at-bat with a strikeout.

“I wasn’t even going to use them,” Skubal said. “But I felt like that was a strike and you want that in an 0-2 count.”

Skubal became the first Detroit Tigers pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Max Scherzer in 2013. Opposite him was the other Cy Young favorite.

A year after starting the All-Star Game for the NL with 11 career outings on his résumé, Pittsburgh Pirates sensation Paul Skenes received the nod again to become the 10th pitcher to start consecutive All-Star Games and the first to accomplish the feat in his first two seasons. Last year, in Texas, Skenes walked one batter in his scoreless inning, a blip he said “pissed me off” and pushed him to attack hitters for his encore.

“I was throwing every pitch as hard as I could,” Skenes said, “hoping that it landed in the strike zone.”

The result: two strikeouts on 100 mph fastballs to Tigers teammates Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene to open the game. He admittedly reached back seeking to strike out the side, but New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge grounded out on another 100 mph pitch to conclude Skenes’ night.

“That’s what the All-Star Game’s for,” Skenes said. “Every hitter’s trying to hit a home run. We’re trying to strike everybody out.”

In a fitting transition, 11-time All-Star Clayton Kershaw relieved Skenes, 14 years his junior, in the second inning.

Raleigh, Tuesday’s Home Run Derby champion, welcomed him with a 101.9 mph line drive that Chicago Cubs left fielder Kyle Tucker snagged with a sliding catch.

Kershaw then struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking at an 87 mph slider on his sixth pitch, prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to emerge from the NL dugout to take the ball from Kershaw and end what could have been the final All-Star Game appearance of his Hall of Fame career.

A legend pick for the game by commissioner Rob Manfred, Kershaw, who became the 20th pitcher to record 3,000 career strikeouts on July 2, delivered a pregame speech in the NL clubhouse.

“We have the best All-Star Game of any sport,” Kershaw said. “We do have the best product. So to be here, to realize your responsibility in the sport is important. And we have Shohei here. We have Aaron Judge here. We have all these guys that represent the game really, really well so we get to showcase that and be part of that is important.

“I just said I was super honored to be a part of it. Thanks for letting me be here, really.”