Sandy Alcantara on Sunday joined teammate Jazz Chisholm Jr., as Miami Marlins named to the 2022 National League All-Star team. The question now is whether Chisholm will make that start and whether Alcantara will be making the game’s first pitch.
Chisholm remains on the injured list with a back injury, and Alcantara, who has been the NL’s best pitcher among those with at least 100 innings pitched, may fall victim to hometown pressures for the mid-season exhibition being played at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium.
Alcantara is 9-3 with a 1.73 ERA in a whopping 130 1/3 innings pitched. The closest pitcher to that workload is Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola, a full 19 innings behind. The primary roadblock to an Alcantara start appears to be the Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin, who is 11-0 with a 1.62 ERA, though in only 88 2/3 innings.
There also has been sentiment that Dodgers longtime ace and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw could be given the starting honors.
Kershaw also was named to the squad on Sunday despite numbers (6-2 with a 2.40 ERA in 63 2/3 innings) that are deeply inferior to Alcantara’s and Gonsolin’s.
Possibly in Alcantara’s corner is that the NL manager will be the Atlanta Braves’ Brian Snitker, who has seen Alcantara handle his team to the tune of a 1.74 ERA in 62 innings in nine career starts.
Both Alcantara and Gonsolin have one start left before the All-Star break. Gonsolin’s final start will be on Tuesday (through a scheduling quirk, the Dodgers don’t play next Sunday), while Alcantara’s will be Friday against the Phillies.
Meanwhile, a year after Shohei Ohtani became baseball’s first two-way All-Star, the Los Angeles Angels sensation did it again.
Ohtani was picked for the American League pitching staff on Sunday as a Major League Baseball selection, two days after he was elected by fans to start at designated hitter.
Pitchers Clay Holmes, Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes made the AL team from the Yankees along with catcher Jose Trevino, giving New York six All-Stars for the first time since 2011. Outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were elected to start.
Defending AL champion Houston has five All-Stars, with pitchers Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez, outfielder Kyle Tucker and designated hitter Yordan Álvarez selected along with starting second baseman Jose Altuve. Álvarez went on the injured list Sunday because of right hand inflammation.
World Series champion Atlanta also has five. Pitcher Max Fried, catcher Travis d’Arnaud, shortstop Dansby Swanson and DH William Contreras joined elected outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr.
Contreras will be the NL’s DH in place of Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper, who was elected to start but broke his left thumb on June 25.
Contreras joins Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras as the first brothers in the same All-Star Game since Aaron and Bret Boone in 2003. They will be just the fifth brothers to start in an All-Star Game after Mort and Walker Cooper in 1942 and ‘43, Dixie and Harry Walker in 1947, Joe and Dom DiMaggio in 1949 and Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. in 1992.
The Dodgers have four All-Stars as Kershaw and Gonsolin joined starting outfielder Mookie Betts and shortstop Trea Turner.
The New York Mets, St. Louis and Toronto also have four.
Seattle outfielder Julio Rodríguez was the lone rookie picked and at 21 is the youngest of this year’s All-Stars. There are 30 first-time All-Stars and Rodríguez, who debuted on April 8, is among 10 age 24 or younger.
Ohtani, the reigning AL MVP, is hitting .260 with 19 homers and 59 RBIs and is 8-4 with a 2.44 ERA, 111 strikeouts and 20 walks in 81 innings. He has won five consecutive starts and is coming off a Wednesday outing at Miami when he became the first player in major league history to strike out 10 batters, drive in two runs and steal a base.
In the AL’s 5-2 win last year at Colorado, Ohtani pitched a 1-2-3 first inning by retiring Fernando Tatis Jr., Max Muncy and Nolan Arenado, and grounded out twice.
Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera is the senior All-Star with 12 selections and St. Louis DH Albert Pujols is second with 11, both picks of baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred under a provision for career achievements in the new collective bargaining agreement.
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is next with 10, followed by Kershaw and Verlander with nine apiece. Trout was picked for the ninth straight time.
AL pitchers elected to start by players included Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase, Baltimore’s Jorge López, Toronto’s Alek Manoah, Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan along with Cole, Cortes, Holmes and Verlander.
NL pitchers picked by players joining Alcantara, Gonsolin, Kershaw and Fried were Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader, the Mets’ Edwin Díaz, St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley and San Diego’s Joe Musgrove.
AL position players chosen by colleagues were Minnesota infielder Luis Arraez, Cleveland second baseman Andrés Giménez and third baseman José Ramírez, Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts and outfielders Byron Buxton of Minnesota and George Springer of Toronto along with Alvarez, Trevino and Tucker.
NL position players selected by players were Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and outfielder Starling Marte, St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado and outfielders Kyle Schwarber of Philadelphia and Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs along with d’Arnaud, Contreras and Swanson.
MLB called in seven AL players, with Ohtani, Rodríguez and Valdez joined by pitchers Paul Blackburn of Oakland, Gregory Soto of Detroit and Martín Pérez of Texas along with Kansas City outfielder Andrew Benintendi.
MLB’s NL choices included Pittsburgh’s David Bednar, Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo, Arizona’s Joe Mantiply and Kershaw for the pitching staff along with Colorado first baseman C.J. Cron and Washington outfielder Juan Soto.
At least one player must be included from all 30 teams. Twenty-eight All-Stars were born outside the 50 states.
Marlins top Mets in 10, salvage split
Sandy Alcantara extended his shutout streak to 19 innings and pinch-runner Billy Hamilton scored on a throwing error by catcher Tomás Nido in the 10th, sending the Miami Marlins past the New York Mets 2-0 on Sunday.
Luke Williams added an RBI single for the Marlins, who salvaged a four-game split with the NL East leaders. Tanner Scott struck out Francisco Lindor with runners at the corners for his 12th save.
New York, which had been undefeated in extra innings in 2022, begins a three-game series at second-place Atlanta on Monday night.
Alcantara allowed six hits in seven innings and lowered his ERA to 1.73. He struck out four and walked one.
“It was probably one of his best performances, from the standpoint that he wasn’t clicking with all his stuff,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “But I think him and [catcher Jacob Stallings] did a nice job of using his stuff and getting through it.”
The right-hander has pitched at least seven innings in each of his last 12 starts, the longest stretch for a Marlins pitcher since 2004.
“When you believe in your stuff, you don’t have to worry,” Alcantara said. “You just go and compete no matter what happens.”
Jon Berti had three hits for the second straight game and got his major league-leading 27th stolen base for Miami.
Hamilton was inserted as the automatic runner in the 10th, replacing Garrett Cooper. With a 1-2 count on Jesús Aguilar, the speedy Hamilton took off and easily stole third. He scored when Nido’s throw sailed well over Eduardo Escobar’s head into left field.
Nido scored the winning run Saturday in the 10th inning on a throwing error by Miami reliever Tanner Scott.
Jesús Sánchez and Bryan De La Cruz singled off Tommy Hunter (0-1) before Williams’ single made it 2-0.
Richard Bleier (1-1) worked a hitless ninth for the win.
The Associated Press’ Charles O’Brien wrote the Marlins-Mets game story and Ronald Blum contributed to the All-Star selections story.
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