PHILADELPHIA \u2013 Dylan Cease started a parade of pitchers that shut down a slew of baseball’s best batters in a display of the pitching dominance that rules the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought before the game about starting with a changeup and I thought it would be funny,” he said.<\/p>\n
He didn’t. And the hitters were not laughing.<\/p>\n
Cease struck out the side in the first inning, combining with 10 relievers on a three-hitter that led the American League over the National League 4-0 in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.<\/p>\n
Cease fanned Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto and CJ Abrams around a walk in the first inning, when he got six misses among 15 swings. He became just the seventh pitcher to strike out three in an All-Star opening inning after Carl Hubbell (1934), Warren Spahn (1949), Jim Palmer (1977), Dave Stieb (1983), Pedro Martinez (1999) and Brad Penny (2006) \u2014 four of them Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n
After speaking with Justin Verlander, the senior AL All-Star<\/a>, Cease gave up the idea of starting with a changeup and instead threw Schwarber a 96.9 mph four-seamer.<\/p>\n \u201cVerlander talked me out of it,” Cease said. \u201cSo we started with the heater and then I was glad we did.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitchers struck out 27, a record for a nine-inning All-Star Game, 15 of them by AL hurlers.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the game now. Guys\u2019 stuff is unbelievable,\u201d said AL manager John Schneider, also Cease’s skipper in Toronto. \u201cI think the bullpen guys kind fed off of it. They were all excited coming off the mound. It speaks volumes to how good the pitching is, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n All-Star MVP Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single in the first against Cristopher S\u00e1nchez of the host Philadelphia Phillies.<\/p>\n Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox added an eighth-inning home run off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Wrobleski, who was pitching on his 26th birthday, for the game’s only extra-base hit. The AL won for the 18th time in 23 games and holds a 49-45-2 advantage overall.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pitching was just dominant today,\u201d Bellinger said.<\/p>\n Singles by Soto in the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth and Otto Lopez in the ninth were the only hits by the NL, which failed to advance a runner past first.<\/p>\n Parker Messick, Michael Wacha, Joe Ryan, Nick Martinez, Cade Smith, Drew Rasmussen, Jacob Latz, Louis Varland, Aroldis Chapman and Bryan Baker finished the 10th All-Star shutout and first since the AL\u2019s 2-0 win in 2013 at New York\u2019s Citi Field.<\/p>\n Some starting star power was missing, with Jacob Misoriowski, Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani all unavailable. Just six pitches reached 100 mph, the fewest in an All-Star Game since 2021.<\/p>\n Bellinger and Rice both singled on up sinkers from S\u00e1nchez, who struggled through a 34-pitch inning that included three hits and two walks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just took me a little time to soak it all in and enjoy it,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said through a translator.<\/p>\n Documenting the day<\/p>\n Managers and starters entered through replica Liberty Bells in front of each dugout, walked to home plate and used a feathered quill to sign an oversized lineup card, as if they were Founding Fathers affixing names to the Declaration of Independence. MLB donated the card to the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Dirt around the plate was surrounded by 13 stars, one for each of the Colonies.<\/p>\n After the fourth inning, a video was played of kids bicycling to a sandlot game with a narration by Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons. As footage was played of Ray Charles singing \u201cAmerica the Beautiful\u201d at Game 2 of the 2001 World Series, the kids biked onto the field and started interacting with the All-Stars as fireworks went off above the ballpark.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were all one of those kids,” NL manager Dave Roberts of the Dodgers said. “Some of these kids might never get a chance to be on a major league field. So for them to have that opportunity to be \u2014 have a conversation with an All-Star is something that they might never get that chance again, right? <\/p>\n Bellinger thought back to his youth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all little kids at heart playing this game even though it\u2019s a challenging game,” he said. \u201cWe\u2019re all still those little kids with big dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n Early exit<\/p>\n