Shohei Ohtani goes deep, Jarren Duran delivers as AL resumes All-Star Game dominance

Pittsburgh starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws in the first inning during the 94th MLB All-Star Game at Globe Life Field on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The pitching was relentless, and the game’s biggest name went deep, but it was a first-time All-Star from the Boston Red Sox who delivered the deciding blow in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran’s two-run home run broke a fifth-inning tie and lifted the American League to a 5-3 win at Globe Life Field. The 27-year-old Duran has quietly been one of the game’s best all-around players this year, and he added a signature moment to his breakout season. Duran was named All-Star Game MVP for delivering the kind of offense the AL badly needed to win its 10th of the last 11 All-Star Games.

That wasn’t exactly easy to do, considering the pitching involved and the fact everyone on the field was nearly overshadowed by Shohei Ohtani.

Twenty pitchers were used, and only three of them allowed runs, but it was Los Angeles Dodgers megastar Ohtani who opened the scoring with a three-run home run off Duran’s Red Sox teammate Tanner Houck in the third inning. It was Ohtani’s first All-Star Game home run, and the first by a Dodger since Mike Piazza in 1996. (Ohtani was 1-for-4 with a pair of walks in his previous three All-Star Games, his only previous hit being a 2022 single against current Dodgers teammate Clayton Kershaw.)

The AL countered with its own three-run third – New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto hit a two-run double, and Cleveland Guardians DH David Fry hit a game-tying RBI single – before Duran put the AL in front for good in the fifth.

But the rest of the night was all about the arms.

American League starter Corbin Burnes walked one two-time MVP (Ohtani) and allowed a two-out double to another (Bryce Harper), but he fielded a comebacker from former teammate William Contreras and got out of the first inning unscathed. Burnes half-hugged, half-playfully tackled Contreras as he jogged off the field.

Not to be outdone, National League starter Paul Skenes blew a 99-mph fastball past one AL MVP candidate (Gunnar Henderson), then dialed up to 100 mph against another (Soto), before getting yet another (Aaron Judge) to ground out and end the inning.

“Before facing him, definitely I was trying to take him deep,” Soto said. “But after he threw a strike, I was trying to work the at-bat, because I want to make sure he’s facing (Judge), too.”

NL manager Torey Lovullo had committed to only one inning from his rookie phenom starter, and the AL also turned to its bullpen after only one inning, and thus began – for the most part – a revolving door of elite and effective arms.

Each team called a lefty out of the bullpen in the second inning – Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers for the AL and Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves for the NL – and each got through the inning on just 10 pitches. Fried got help from a terrific diving play by Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, who was doing an in-game TV interview at the time.

In the fourth, Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet pitched around a single and struck out Home Run Derby champ Teoscar Hernández. Then first-year Chicago Cubs starter Shota Imanaga set the side down in order, striking out young Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman in the process.

The hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball, Oakland A’s closer Mason Miller, had the fifth inning for the AL and threw eight pitches at least 100 mph, topping out at 103.6. He struck out Ohtani, then struck out Turner. Even Cincinnati Reds starter Hunter Greene, who gave up the Duran homer, was one strike away from a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, but Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander hit a two-out, two-strike single before Duran went deep.

Kansas City Royals lefty Cole Ragans got a double play to end the top of the sixth inning, and the NL used Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez (who got two outs on two pitches) and Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez (who struck out Salvador Pérez) to get through their half of the sixth.

Tigers left fielder Riley Greene made a sliding catch to help 34-year-old first-time All-Star Seth Lugo pitch a scoreless top of the seventh, and a couple of NL relievers – Robert Suarez of the San Diego Padres and Matt Strahm of the Phillies – combined to strike out the side in the bottom half. Texas Rangers closer Kirby Yates, pitching in front of his home crowd, struck out two in a dominant top of the eighth, and Miami Marlins lefty Tanner Scott and Phillies right-hander Jeff Hoffman combined for a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.

The game’s top closer, Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians, got the save, finishing the game with the 15th strikeout of the night.