Prior to 2010, the American League had won 12 straight MLB All-Star games (not including the infamous tie of 2002), but with their 8-0 victory on Tuesday night, the National League claimed its third straight All-Star victory. They did it by hammering out those eight runs in the game's first four runs— the total would be the most runs scored by a single team in an All-Star game since 2004, and the margin of victory would be the most lopsided since 1983.
The N.L. scored the first of those five runs in the first inning off reigning Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who allowed four hits and two walks in his single inning of work. The big blasts came from Ryan Braun, who kicked the scoring off with a double, and Pablo Sandoval, who smacked a three-run triple to effectively put the game out of reach. The inning's final run came on a single by Dan Uggla.
In the fourth inning, the N.L. put up three more runs, all coming off of Texas Rangers P Matt Harrison. The first came on a Matt Holliday single to score his teammate Rafael Furcal, with the final two coming on a two-run homer by eventual MVP Melky Cabrera.
The city of Chicago's All-Stars were more or less quiet. White Sox P Chris Sale pitched the sixth inning, giving up two hits but no runs while striking out David Freese. Paul Konerko got a single at-bat and was hit by an R.A. Dickey knuckleball, while teammate Adam Dunn sat the night out. On the Cubs front, Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair both went 0-1, with the former flying out and the latter grounding out.
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