MIAMI — A combined Red Sox and Yankees flavor of the final two days of All-Star festivities wasn’t necessarily dominant. But the shared spotlight, for players present and past, was easy to spot ahead of a four-game series for the teams starting Friday at Fenway Park.
Basically every one and everything orbited the Yankees’ Aaron Judge. Tuesday’s American League starter, Boston’s Chris Sale, noted how happy he was to meet “the big guy.” Earlier in the day, speaking to the Baseball Writers Association of America, commissioner Rob Manfred suggested Judge could become the face of baseball.
Then there was Tuesday’s actual game, which didn’t lose much luster even though home field advantage in the World Series was no longer attached to the outcome.
Former Yankees and Red Sox pitcher Andrew Miller got the save in the 10th inning of the 2-1 win for the AL All-Star team. The pitcher that kept the game tied at 1 in the 9th inning, albeit barely, was Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel.
Kimbrel also took the win, and took home a game ball to commemorate it — the last pitch he threw to the Mets Michael Conforto for a strikeout once he regained his mechanics.
"For a minute there it got a little hairy, didn't it?” Kimbrel said. “I felt excited, the ball was kind of jumping out of my hand a little bit tonight. We got through it and hit the homer. It was pretty cool.
“I told myself to slow down a little bit. It was one of those days my arm was out there in front of my body and I was able to figure out and get enough strikes that I needed and get off the field.”
Boston Red Sox
Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez had some balls in the dirt to handle from Kimbrel, who knew before the day started he'd be pitching the ninth.
Robinson Cano has long left New York but his time in pinstripes is certainly a dominant part of his legacy, and his 10th inning blast to right field off the Cubs’ Wade Davis was the difference.
“He's an incredible player,” Miller said. “Unfortunately I had to face him probably a few more times than I liked to in New York, but an incredible challenge and I think probably something actually when I first moved to the bullpen, [he] hopefully kind helped me take the next step having to face a guy like him.”