The American League continued a string on All-Star game wins that began in 1996 thanks to an All-Star Game first:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On a night of tricky hops, Ichiro Suzuki and the American League also bounced back to win.
Instead of a Barry Bonds splash shot, the defining hit at Tuesday’s All-Star game was Suzuki’s inside-the-park home run, the first in the game’s history.
Suzuki lined a go-ahead, two-run drive off the right-field wall in the fifth inning, Carl Crawford and Victor Martinez later hit conventional shots and the Americans made it 10 straight over the Nationals, holding on for a 5-4 victory.
“I thought it was going to go over the fence,” Suzuki said through a translator. “When it didn’t, I was bummed out.”
The ball — smudged with green and red and signed by Suzuki _ immediately was handed over to the Hall of Fame.
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