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Jorge CastilloJul 16, 2025, 12:08 AM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.<\/p>\n ATLANTA — Kyle Schwarber<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n But on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> 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<\/a> to beat the American League at Truist Park after the score was tied at 6-6 through nine innings.<\/p>\n The performance was enough for Schwarber to win MVP honors in a game that began and ended with historic firsts.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In the end, four pitches were challenged. The historic first was an 0-2 changeup that American League starter Tarik Skubal<\/a> threw to San Diego Padres<\/a> third baseman Manny Machado<\/a> that plate umpire Dan Iassogna called a ball in the first inning. Skubal and his catcher Cal Raleigh<\/a> didn’t agree, so they challenged the pitch to make history. The call was overturned, ending Machado’s at-bat with a strikeout.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Skubal became the first Detroit Tigers<\/a> pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Max Scherzer<\/a> in 2013. Opposite him was the other Cy Young favorite.<\/p>\n A year after starting the All-Star Game for the NL with 11 career outings on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> sensation Paul Skenes<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n “I was throwing every pitch as hard as I could,” Skenes said, “hoping that it landed in the strike zone.”<\/p>\n The result: two strikeouts on 100 mph fastballs to Tigers teammates Gleyber Torres<\/a> and Riley Greene<\/a> to open the game. He admittedly reached back seeking to strike out the side, but New York Yankees<\/a> slugger Aaron Judge<\/a> grounded out on another 100 mph pitch to conclude Skenes’ night.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n In a fitting transition, 11-time All-Star Clayton Kershaw<\/a> relieved Skenes, 14 years his junior, in the second inning.<\/p>\n Raleigh, Tuesday’s Home Run Derby champion<\/a>, welcomed him with a 101.9 mph line drive that Chicago Cubs<\/a> left fielder Kyle Tucker<\/a> snagged with a sliding catch.<\/p>\nPhillies slugger Kyle Schwarber was named MVP of the 2025 MLB All-Star Game after his three home runs on three swings led the National League to victory in the first Midsummer Classic decided by a tiebreaking home run swing-off.\u00a0Brynn Anderson\/AP<\/p>\n