AL’s 4-0 win first All-Star shutout since 2013
Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Dylan Cease throws during the first inning of the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander and Kate Upton pose with their kids on the red carpet for the MLB baseball All-Star game Tuesday in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Dylan Cease throws during the first inning of the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander and Kate Upton pose with their kids on the red carpet for the MLB baseball All-Star game Tuesday in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Dylan Cease started a parade of pitchers that shut down a slew of baseball’s best batters in a display of the pitching dominance that rules the sport.
“I thought before the game about starting with a changeup and I thought it would be funny,” he said.
He didn’t. And the hitters were not laughing.
Cease struck out the side in the first inning, combining with 10 relievers on a three-hitter that led the American League over the National League 4-0 in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.
Cease fanned Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto and CJ Abrams around a walk in the first inning, when he got six misses among 15 swings. He became just the seventh pitcher to strike out three in an All-Star opening inning after Carl Hubbell (1934), Warren Spahn (1949), Jim Palmer (1977), Dave Stieb (1983), Pedro Martinez (1999) and Brad Penny (2006) -- four of them Hall of Famers.
After speaking with Justin Verlander, the senior AL All-Star, Cease gave up the idea of starting with a changeup and instead threw Schwarber a 96.9 mph four-seamer.
“Verlander talked me out of it,” Cease said. “So we started with the heater and then I was glad we did.”
Pitchers struck out 27, a record for a nine-inning All-Star Game, 15 of them by AL hurlers.
“That’s the game now. Guys’ stuff is unbelievable,” said AL manager John Schneider, also Cease’s skipper in Toronto. “I think the bullpen guys kind fed off of it. They were all excited coming off the mound. It speaks volumes to how good the pitching is, for sure.”
All-Star MVP Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single in the first against Cristopher Sánchez of the host Philadelphia Phillies.
Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox added an eighth-inning home run off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Wrobleski, who was pitching on his 26th birthday, for the game’s only extra-base hit. The AL won for the 18th time in 23 games and holds a 49-45-2 advantage overall.
“The pitching was just dominant today,” Bellinger said.
Singles by Soto in the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth and Otto Lopez in the ninth were the only hits by the NL, which failed to advance a runner past first.
Parker Messick, Michael Wacha, Joe Ryan, Nick Martinez, Cade Smith, Drew Rasmussen, Jacob Latz, Louis Varland, Aroldis Chapman and Bryan Baker finished the 10th All-Star shutout and first since the AL’s 2-0 win in 2013 at New York’s Citi Field.
Some starting star power was missing, with Jacob Misoriowski, Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani all unavailable. Just six pitches reached 100 mph, the fewest in an All-Star Game since 2021.
Bellinger and Rice both singled on up sinkers from Sánchez, who struggled through a 34-pitch inning that included three hits and two walks.
Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero was hit on the outside of his left hand by a 97.6 mph sinker from St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien in the third inning and immediately left the game. The 23-year-old, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse. X-rays were negative.