On Tuesday, Giancarlo Stanton played in his fifth career All-Star Game. But it wasn’t until this year’s game that he finally found success in the Midsummer Classic.
Stanton entered Tuesday’s game 0-for-6 with three strikeouts in All-Star Games. He struck out in his first at-bat against the National League Tuesday too. But then things changed.
With the American League down 2-0 in the fourth, Stanton took Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin deep for a monstrous two-run homer to tie the game.
Byron Buxton followed with a homer to break the tie, and that was it for the scoring in the game. The AL won 3-2, and Stanton was named All-Star Game MVP.
Stanton was asked after the game how it felt to win All-Star Game MVP at Dodger Stadium, which is near where he grew up. The New York Yankees star had trouble finding the words to express his feelings.
“Can’t really explain how special this is. It’s hard to put into words that this is reality right now. It’s really cool; I’m soaking it all in,” Stanton said.
The Los Angeles native was the only player with multiple RBI in the game. After starter Shane McClanahan struggled in the first, the AL pitching staff shut things down and did not allow any runs the rest of the game. In fact, after McClanahan allowed four hits in the first, the entire staff allowed just one more hit thereafter.
If it wasn’t Stanton to win MVP, then the rest of the AL pitching staff deserved it.
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