MLB All-Star Game
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The New York Yankees and Mets produced eight players on hand in Cleveland for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game, bringing their explosive brand of baseball to the national stage.

Geoff Magliocchetti

Cleveland rocks, but New York is special, New York is different.

Eight members of the city’s baseball teams were on hand at Progressive Field to represent their squads at the 2019 All-Star Game on The North Coast. Five New York Yankees helped their American League cohorts top a National League group featuring three New York Mets. The final score was 4-3.

Pete Alonso of the Mets capped off an eventful Cleveland visit with the biggest New York contribution. With his NL squad loading the bases against local closer Brad Hand, Alonso came to the plate with his squad down 4-1. Though he was unable to capture the magic of Monday’s victorious Home Run Derby performance, his two-run single scored David Dahl and Yasmani Grandal to make things interesting late. Alonso and fellow runner Paul DeJong respectively advanced to second and third thanks to defensive indifference, but they failed to score when Mike Moustakas fouled out.

Alonso perhaps killed his home run derby goodwill with the fans earlier in the game. A strong collaborative effort between he and Max Muncy stole a base hit from Indians slugger Carlos Santana.

Jeff McNeil, replacing Christian Yelich and Kris Bryant in left field, had a prior chance to advance Dahl and Grandal, but flew out to left field.

Two Yankees appeared in the AL starting lineup. DJ LeMahieu began the game at second base. He would be replaced by teammate Gleyber Torres after two fruitless at-bats. Each ended in a pair of groundouts to the pitcher, one of whom was Mets thrower Jacob DeGrom. Torres was a victim of a Walker Buehler strikeout in the fifth inning. The substitute would later earn a single in the eighth against Miami’s Sandy Alcantara despite the best efforts of Max Muncy.

Gary Sanchez would come up big against Buehler earlier in the frame. His double to open the frame helped the AL double their slim 1-0 lead. He would be sent home two batters later when Minnesota’s Jorge Polanco hit an infield single to move the lead to 2-0.

DeGrom would throw a perfect third inning, needing just seven pitches to get through it. LeMahieu’s groundout was sandwiched between a George Springer strikeout and a Mike Trout popout to first base. It marks the second perfect All-Star inning of DeGrom’s career, previously doing so in 2015 in Cincinnati.

Yankees pitching was represented by Masahiro Tanaka and Aroldis Chapman. Late addition Tanaka was the second AL pitcher to enter the game after Justin Verlander opened. He nearly had a perfect inning, but Pittsburgh’s Josh Bell‘s groundout became an infield single after a successful NL replay challenge. Tanaka struck out Cody Bellinger to open his appearance and negated Bell’s hit with a Willson Contreras groundout. His efforts allowed him to be credited with the win. He is the first Yankees pitcher to earn the winning All-Star decision since Vic Raschi in 1948.

Chapman was called upon to close things out with the one-run lead. After Chapman struck out J.T. Realmuto and Muncy in seven pitches, Bronx teammate CC Sabathia emerged from the AL dugout to share a tongue-in-cheek mound meeting with the infield. The mock discussion allowed the Cleveland crowd to bid farewell to Sabathia, who spent the first eight seasons of his career with the hometown Indians. Sabathia also opened Tuesday’s festivities by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Chapman completed his efforts in striking out the side by disposing of Grandal.

The save secured the AL’s seventh consecutive victory in the exhibition. They lead the all-time series 45-43-2. Former Cleveland outfielder Michael Brantley opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, as his double scored current Houston teammate Alex Bregman. Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon would cut the 2-0 lead in half with a fifth-inning solo home run, but it was reestablished when Andrew Chapman scored on a Xander Bogaerts double play in the sixth. Joey Gallo of the Texas Rangers provided what became the winning margin with a solo home run one inning later.

Each team returns to regular season action on Friday night. The Yankees will return to The Bronx to take on the Toronto Blue Jays (7:05 p.m. ET, YES), while the Mets head south to battle the Miami Marline (7:10 p.m. ET, SNY).

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