Jose Berrios and Jorge Polanco of the Twins helped lead the American League to a 4-3 win over the National League in the MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night in Cleveland.
Polanco struck out on a baffling curveball from Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in his first at-bat, but the starting shortstop gave the AL a 2-0 lead with an RBI infield single in the fifth inning.
“It was awesome. I feel really good about it. I faced a really good guy and I made contact with him,” Polanco said of his hit against Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler.
On his strikeout against Kershaw: “That was nasty. That curveball is nasty,” said Polanco, according to Betsy Helfand.
Berrios pitched the third inning for the AL and immediately served up a double off the wall to Diamondbacks infielder Ketel Marte. But he settled down and struck out Braves rising star Ronald Acuna Jr. and reigning NL MVP, Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich.
He got Acuna swinging on a nasty curveball and froze Yelich on a knee-high two-seam fastball. He then ended the inning by getting his brother-in-law, Cubs star Javier Baez, to fly out to left field.
"La Mákina" llegó lanzando fuego a Cleveland. 🔥🇵🇷 @JOLaMaKina#MLBPuertoRico #AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/fIxV78w4N1
— MLB Puerto Rico (@MLBPuertoRico) July 10, 2019
“Tonight is a special night for us,” Berrios said of getting to face Baez, according to the Twins. “I knew it was a long day. I tried to make eye contact and we did it. We just smiled and enjoyed. … We don’t say anything. Just look at each other and smile. We enjoy the moment right now. We’ll talk after the game.”
All three of Berrios’ pitchers – curve, two-seamer and changeup – had a ton of movement.
The Twins begin the post-All-Star break portion of the schedule Friday with the first of three very big games in Cleveland, who they lead by 5.5 games in the AL Central race.
