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| Photo is credited to J. Conrad Williams Jr. |
Despite Mariano Rivera receiving a hero’s welcome upon entrance into the All-Star game, which was won by the American League 3-0, Joe Nathan received the save.
Nathan, a graduate of Stony Brook, has been one of the more unheralded pitchers in Major League Baseball throughout his career which began in 1999 with San Francisco.
Now 14 years later, Nathan is a six-time All Star closer that has compiled 328 saves with a solid 2.80 ERA in 688 appearances.
Nathan struck out the first two batters he faced, Matt Carpenter and Andrew McCutchen, before yielding an opposite field double to Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks. With the tieing run on deck, he got the dangerous Bronx-native, Pedro Alvarez, to pop out to second base to end the game.
The majority of the game was uncharacteristically docile. Mets ace Matt Harvey got the start against Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers. Both pitchers have been electric all season.
After allowing a leadoff double to Mike Trout, he drilled Robinson Cano with a 96-mph fastball to the right knee. He gave all Yankee fans a scare when Cano ended up leaving the game early after limping to first base. X-rays were negative and he is not expected to miss any action, which the Yankees could ill-afford.
Harvey settled down after that, striking out reigning AL MVP Miguel Cabrera with a 92-mph slider that may not have been touched by any batter in the game. He then got red-hot Chris Davis to fly out and then struck out Jose Bautista on his 17th pitch of the inning.
In the second inning, Harvey got David Ortiz to fly out, before striking out Adam Jones on a 98-mph heater that was neck high and forcing Joe Mauer to line out to left.
His day was done after that, a typically dominant outing for the 24-year-old Connecticut native who has transformed himself from promising but unspectacular prospect into one of the most ballyhooed aces in the game in less than one year.
The National League could not muster anything against the pitchers the American League trotted out, failing to record a hit until the fourth inning on a Carlos Beltran single.
The AL struck first on a sacrifice fly by Jose Bautista who scored Cabrera. They were able to score of Patrick Corbin who has had a tremendous first-half for the Diamondbacks with a record of 11-1 and ERA of 2.40.
That was the only run needed for the AL, who combined on the rare 10 pitcher, 3-hit shutout. It was the first All Star Game shutout since 1990.
Chris Sale received the win for the American League with Corbin taking the loss. It was the first win for the AL since 2009.
