Yankees' Aaron Judge, Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr. top vote-getters for All-Star Game
The Yankees' Aaron Judge runs on his two-run home run against the Athletics during the first inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. were elected Thursday to start in the July 20 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. The pair were chosen under new rules that give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 8 and ended Thursday.
Others advanced to the second phase, which runs from noon EDT on Tuesday and ends at 2 p.m. EDT on July 8. Votes from the first phase do not carry over. Starters will be announced July 8, and pitchers and reserves on July 10.
Judge received 3.76 million votes and was elected to start for the fourth time. Acuna led the NL with 3.5 million votes and was elected to start for the third time.
AL finalists were: catcher: Alejandro Kirk, Jose Trevino. First base: Ty France, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Second base: Jose Altuve, Santiago Espinal. Third base: Rafael Devers, Jose Ramirez. Outfield: Mike Trout, George Springer, Giancarlo Stanton, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. DH: Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani.
NL finalists were: catcher: Willson Contreras, Travis d’Arnaud. First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Pete Alonso. Second base: Ozzie Albies, Jazz Chisholm Jr. Third base: Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado. Shortstop: Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson. Outfield: Mookie Betts, Joc Pederson, Starling Marte, Adam Duvall. DH: Bryce Harper, William Contreras.
Gimenez's walk-off HR leads Guardians
Andres Gimenez watched his home run clear the centerfield fence, kissed his bat and then flipped it while turning toward Minnesota's stunned dugout.
For the second day in a row, the host Cleveland Guardians won a game they probably should have lost and handed the Twins another crushing defeat.
Gimenez blasted a two-run homer in the ninth inning as the Guardians walked off against the Twins again, beating their AL Central rivals, 5-3, to take the five-game series and move within one game of first place.
When he crossed the plate, Gimenez was splashed with water and bubble gum rained down on his head as the Guardians, who had only one hit through seven innings, celebrated their 17th last at-bat win — the most in the majors.
On Wednesday, Josh Naylor's two-run homer in the 10th inning sent the Guardians past the Twins, whose bullpen has imploded against Cleveland several times this season.
"We keep fighting until the end," Gimenez said.
Six of Cleveland's last at-bat wins have come against the Twins. The teams don't play again until September, when they meet seven times.
"I'm glad they're gone," Guardians manager Terry Francona said. "That's a lot and they're good. I thought we played them pretty tough, but they're a good team. They'll be around. They're a good team."
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, "Probably the most difficult series I've ever been a part of. I've never seen five games against one team in four days that felt like that."
Gimenez went deep to center on a 3-and-2 pitch from Tyler Thornburg (0-1) as Minnesota's bullpen imploded again.
Jose Ramirez drew a leadoff walk, the 10th allowed by Minnesota. Naylor's groundout moved Ramirez to second and Owen Miller flied out.
Gimenez, who followed with his winner, would like to find a less dramatic way to win.
"We're gonna go up and down and we just have to be as a group and putting great at-bats together," he said. "Hopefully things are gonna change, but we're getting the wins. That's all that matters." — AP
