Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (30) fires up the cannon at the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game.
Ohtani, playing as the No. 2 designated hitter for the National League (NL), blasted a three-run home run in the top of the third inning at the MLB All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday (July 17).
After drawing a walk in his first at-bat in the first inning, Ohtani stepped to the plate for the second time in the third. Jurickson Profar (31, San Diego Padres) singled to right and Ketel Marte (31, Arizona Diamondbacks) reached on an error by the second baseman to put runners on first and second with no outs. Ohtani then hit a three-run blast over the right-field fence, right on the American League (AL) Tanner Hauck’s (28-Boston Red Sox) 142-kilometer-per-hour splitter. It had a launch angle of 29 degrees, a bat speed of 167 kilometers per hour and a distance of 122 meters.
It was Ohtani’s first career All-Star Game home run. In his first All-Star Game appearance in 2021 with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Ohtani has participated in four consecutive years without success. For the third straight year, he was 1-for-4 with a double and two walks in three games. Ohtani, who hasn’t pitched this season after undergoing elbow surgery last year and is playing exclusively as a designated hitter, leads the NL in home runs with 29 in the first half alone. He is second in all of baseball behind the AL’s Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees (34 home runs).
Ohtani’s homer seemed to keep his chances of winning his first All-Star MVP alive.
But in the bottom of the third inning, the AL rallied after Marcus Simeon (34, Texas Rangers) singled and Stephen Quan (27, Cleveland Indians) walked to put runners on first and second, and Yankees’ Juan Soto (26) followed with a two-run double. David Freese (29, Cleveland Indians) followed with a single to tie the game at 3-3. It tied the game at one. The balance was finally broken in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Red Sox Jaren Duran (28) hit a 154-mile-per-hour fastball from NL Hunter Green (25-Cincinnati Reds) for a two-run, game-winning home run.
The game ended in a 5-3 American League victory and Duran was named MVP. Duran went 1-for-2 with the game-winning home run, 사설 토토사이트 a double, two RBIs and one run scored.
Meanwhile, Otani, 28, and her wife, Mamiko Tanaka, 28, made a splash at the red carpet show in downtown Arlington, Texas. Holding the hand of his wife, who was dressed in a snow-white sleeveless dress, Ohtani appeared on the red carpet in a brown suit to the cheers of many fans.
Paul Skins walked the red carpet with his girlfriend
(22-Pittsburgh Pirates), who was honored as an All-Star Game starter in his first half season in the majors, walked the red carpet with his girlfriend, who is even more famous than he is. His girlfriend, gymnast Olivia Dunn, 22, a Louisiana State University (LSU) alumna, is known not only for her gymnastics, but also for her movie-star good looks and as an influencer with 8 million followers on TikTok and 5.2 million on Instagram. Dunn revealed last year that she is paid $500,000 per endorsement post on social media.
Skins started the game for the NL and pitched a clean first inning with one strikeout and no walks. Skins wasn’t intimidated by the AL hitters and unleashed his signature weapon, the Splinker. The Splinker is a hybrid changeup that combines a splitter and a sinker. In the bottom of the first inning, he got leadoff hitter Stephen Kwan to fly out to shortstop and then got Gunner Henderson (23, Baltimore Orioles) to ground out to shortstop himself. He gave up a walk to the Yankees’ Gaffo Soto, but grounded out to the Yankees’ home run leader to win his first career meeting with Jersey.