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MLB All-Star Game

Robinson Cano's 10th inning home run lifts American League to All-Star Game victory

Robinson Cano rounds the bases after a solo home run in the 10th inning.

MIAMI – Breaking down the 2017 MLB All-Star Game from Marlins Park:

American League 2, National League 1 (10 innings)

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The final: Robinson Cano’s leadoff home run in the top of the 10th inning off Wade Davis was the decisive blow as the AL continued its All-Star dominance, winning for the fifth consecutive season and the 12th time in the last 15 years.

Cano’s 395-foot blast to right field was just the fourth extra-inning home run in All-Star history. For his heroics, he was named the game MVP.

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“You come here and as a kid you watch (Ken) Griffey (Jr.) and all those guys that come to the All-Star Game, winning MVP. You want to get that feeling,” Cano said. “I already got it once for the Home Run Derby. I want to have this feeling.”

Cano is the third member of the Seattle Mariners to win All-Star MVP honors, joining Griffey in 1992 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2007.

In a season dominated by power hitting and home runs, leave it to the All-Star Game to throw baseball fans a curve. Pitching dominated the 88th Midsummer Classic as the two teams combined for 23 strikeouts and finished the regulation nine innings in a 1-1 tie.

Just as unlikely was the pitcher Cano victimized for the game-winner. In the past two seasons combined, Davis has allowed a total of one home run.

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Game savers: Even after taking the lead in the 10th, the American League needed a couple of clutch performances in the bottom of the inning to preserve the win.

Interestingly, they came from two players who were thrust into slightly different roles than they usually occupy on their own teams.

Andrew Miller usually works as the Cleveland Indians’ setup man, but with the game going to extra innings, he ended up getting the call to close.

“I don’t have that much experience in doing it but I think there is value in somebody that can get through that inning and understand how to control their emotions, the ups and downs, and pitch that chess match,” Miller said.

Things might have turned out differently for Miller if not for an outstanding diving catch by Justin Upton on Corey Seager’s leadoff liner to right field.

However, Upton was only there to make the catch because the AL didn’t have a true right fielder among its reserves, and he was the one with the most experience there – even if he hadn’t played right field in a game since 2013.

“With the game on the line right there, you’ve got to lock in,” Upton said. “I got a good read on it. It was going away from me but I was able to still catch it.”

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Second is best: Cano, who was named to the All-Star team as an injury replacement for Starlin Castro of the New York Yankees, was the third choice at second base for AL, coming into the game following Jose Altuve and Jonathan Schoop.

Schoop scored the AL’s first run of the game when he laced a two-out double in the fifth and scored on a seeing-eye blooper by Miguel Sano that fell just inside the right-field line and out of the reach of Bryce Harper.

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Man of the moment: St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was in the middle of the action in several of the game’s memorable moments. He was in the right place at the right time when AL outfielder Nelson Cruz brought his phone to the plate in the top of the sixth inning for a picture with umpire Joe West.

Molina obliged and showed off his quick trigger – similar to the way he throws out opposing baserunners.

Then in the bottom of the inning, he tied the game 1-1 with a 385-foot home run to right center field. In his All-Star career, Molina is 5-for-8 with a homer and two RBI.

After drawing a walk to lead off the ninth inning, Molina represented the NL’s best chance to win, but he was stranded at second base as the potential winning run.

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Fernandez tribute: The aura of late Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez can be found throughout the Miami area, and especially at Marlins Park.

Several players, and not just his Marlins teammates, mentioned their affection for him before the All-Star Game. Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper even wore special cleats with Fernandez’s picture on them.

The two-time All-Star right-hander, who was killed in a boating accident last September, has his locker preserved and encased in glass. In the National League clubhouse, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez had the locker right beside Fernandez’s. He talked openly about wanting to play well in the game, not only because he had about 20 friends and family members from the Domincan Republic here to watch him, but also to honor Fernandez’s memory.

Pitching the third and fourth innings for the National League, Martinez allowed one hit and struck out four of the eight hitters he faced.

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Manager's special: Both managers said before the game that since the outcome didn’t determine home field advantage for the World Series, they’d make an effort to get every player a chance to play. So by the end of the eighth inning, NL second baseman DJ LeMahieu was the only position player left on the bench for either team.

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What you missed on TV: Between the second and third innings, fans were treated to the first road appearance of “The Freeze,” a former sprinter who dresses in a superhero costume at Atlanta Braves games and races a fan around the warning track.

The unique twist is the huge head start the fan gets on the way to the finish line in right field. On this particular occasion, the Freeze wasn’t able to close the gap as the fan won. Of course, it’s always a little harder to win on the road than it is at home.

Gallery: Best of the 2017 All-Star Game

 

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