2014 All-Star Game
The 2014 All-Star Game, the 85th edition of the Mid-summer classic, took place at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN, on Tuesday July 15, 2014. Joe Mauer was named the All-Star Game Ambassador by Major League Baseball, while former Minnesota Twins greats Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor and Tony Oliva were named spokespersons for the All-Star Game Fanfest.
The American League won the game, 5-3, over the National League, to secure home field advantage in the 2014 World Series. Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was named the winner of the Ted Williams Award as the game's MVP after going 2 for 3 with a double, a triple, a run scored and 2 RBI.
The Teams[edit]
National League[edit]
Mike Matheny of the St. Louis Cardinals managed the National League team, with coaches Clint Hurdle from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Fredi Gonzalez from the Atlanta Braves.
American League[edit]
John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox managed the American League team, with coaches Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins and Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians.
The Game[edit]
American League manager John Farrell designated Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners as the game's starting pitcher, but King Felix quickly got himself in trouble in the 1st by allowing a lead-off single to CF Andrew McCutchen, and then throwing a wild pitch to move him to second. However, he recovered by striking out RF Yasiel Puig and SS Troy Tulowitzki in succession, and then getting 1B Paul Goldschmidt to ground out to escape the inning without giving up a run. National League starter Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals, designated by his own manager, Mike Matheny, over the immaculate Clayton Kershaw, was not so lucky. With SS Derek Jeter playing his 14th and final All-Star Game as the AL's lead-off hitter and getting a lengthy ovation before he stepped to the plate, Wainwright gave up a double that immediately put him in trouble; there was later some controversy about whether Wainwright deliberately gave Jeter an easy pitch to hit, and whether this was appropriate or not. In any case, LF Mike Trout followed with a triple, and the AL was quickly ahead, 1-0. Wainwright struck out 2B Robinson Cano for the first out, but 1B Miguel Cabrera followed with a homer to left, and it was now 3-0.
In the 2nd inning, Farrell turned to one of his own pitchers, lefty Jon Lester, and he was touched for a pair of runs. 3B Aramis Ramirez singled with one out and 2B Chase Utley followed with a double to center, putting the NL on the board. C Jonathan Lucroy then hit another double, and the lead was cut to 3-2. Kershaw pitched a perfect bottom of the 2nd for the National League, as did Yu Darvish for the AL in the top of the 3rd. Jeter led off the bottom of the 3rd with a single off Alfredo Simon, giving him a 2-for-2 day. Jeter moved to second on a wild pitch, but Simon got the next three men in order to strand him there. Alexei Ramirez took over at SS for the New York Yankees' future Hall of Famer in the top of the 4th, but the NL tied the score that inning, facing Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, winner of last year's game. After a couple of quick outs, Sale plunked Utley with a pitch. The extremely fast Dee Gordon replaced him as a pinch-runner, and immeditately came in to score when Lucroy hit his second double of the game. The game was now tied, 3-3.
After a scoreless 4th inning, Matheny turned to another one of his pitchers in the 5th, reliever Pat Neshek, and like his teammate Wainwright in the 1st, he was unable to stop the AL's bats. C Derek Norris and Alexei Ramirez hit back-to-back singles with one out, bringing up Trout who again came through with an extra-base hit, a double to left that scored Norris and moved Ramirez to third. With those two run-producing hits, Trout would be named the winner of the Ted Williams Award as the game's Most Valuable Player after the contest. Neshek gave way to Tyler Clippard after that hit, but 2B Jose Altuve greeted him with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 5-3. It turned out to be the final run of the game.
With the substitutes entering the game en masse in the 6th - both managers made 5 defensive substitutions when their team took the field - pitchers were dominant the rest of the way. Aramis Ramirez did hit a double off Scott Kazmir in the 6th and made it to third on Gordon's ground out, but he was stranded. In the 7th, the other Ramirez, Alexei, reached on an error by 1B Freddie Freeman and stole second base with Craig Kimbrel on the mound, but Kimbrel struck out the next two batters, 1B Brandon Moss and pinch-hitter Ian Kinsler, to end the inning. In the 8th, Freeman atoned himself with a one-out single off Sean Doolittle, and one out later, Fernando Rodney walked 3B Todd Frazier to put a second runner on, but he then struck out Daniel Murphy to end the inning. Farrell called on Minnesota Twins closer Glen Perkins to nail the win in his home ballpark, and this he did efficiently, retiring C Miguel Montero, LF Josh Harrison and CF Charlie Blackmon in order to preserve the 5-3 win. Max Scherzer, who had pitched a scoreless top of the 5th for the AL, was the game's winning pitcher, while Neshek was saddled with the loss.
Starting Lineups[edit]
| National League | Batting Order |
American League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Position | Team | Player | Position | Team | |||
| Andrew McCutchen | CF | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1 | Derek Jeter | SS | New York Yankees | ||
| Yasiel Puig | RF | Los Angeles Dodgers | 2 | Mike Trout | LF | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | ||
| Troy Tulowitzki | SS | Colorado Rockies | 3 | Robinson Canó | 2B | Seattle Mariners | ||
| Paul Goldschmidt | 1B | Arizona Diamondbacks | 4 | Miguel Cabrera | 1B | Detroit Tigers | ||
| Giancarlo Stanton | DH | Miami Marlins | 5 | José Bautista | RF | Toronto Blue Jays | ||
| Aramis Ramirez | 3B | Milwaukee Brewers | 6 | Nelson Cruz | DH | Baltimore Orioles | ||
| Chase Utley | 2B | Philadelphia Phillies | 7 | Adam Jones | CF | Baltimore Orioles | ||
| Jonathan Lucroy | C | Milwaukee Brewers | 8 | Josh Donaldson | 3B | Oakland Athletics | ||
| Carlos Gomez | LF | Milwaukee Brewers | 9 | Salvador Perez | C | Kansas City Royals | ||
| Adam Wainwright | P | St. Louis Cardinals | SP | Felix Hernandez | P | Seattle Mariners | ||
Line Score[edit]
July 15, 2014 at Target Field (41,048), night game - Baseball Reference scoresheet
| League | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| American | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 5 | 7 | 0 |
Pitchers
National: Adam Wainwright, Clayton Kershaw, Alfredo Simon, Zack Greinke, Pat Neshek (L), Tyler Clippard, Francisco Rodriguez, Craig Kimbrel, Tony Watson, Aroldis Chapman
American: Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, Yu Darvish, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer (W), Scott Kazmir, Koji Uehara, Greg Holland, Sean Doolittle, Fernando Rodney, Glen Perkins (SV)
Home Runs
American: Miguel Cabrera (1st)
Umpires[edit]
Gary Cederstrom (home), Jeff Nelson (1B), Bob Davidson (2B), Scott Barry (3B), Todd Tichenor (LF) and Vic Carapazza (RF). Jerry Layne was also named as the instant replay official, as the rule was in effect at an All-Star Game for the first time.
Related Sites[edit]
|
American League National League |
| Major League Baseball's All-Star Game
1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939
|
We're Social...for Statheads
Every Sports Reference Social Media Account
Site Last Updated:
Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction?
Subscribe to our Free Email Newsletter
Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE
Your All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database
Do you have a sports website? Or write about sports? We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more.