Kyle Schwarber the NL hero in unlikely All-Star Game ending

ATLANTA AP Kyle Schwarber was nervous He had played in Contest of the World Series homered for the United States in the World Baseball Classic But he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Tournament swing-off No one had That s kind of like the baseball version of a shootout he announced after homering on all three of his swings going down to his left knee on the final one to overcome a two-homer deficit That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League s final three swings giving the National League a - swing-off win after a - tie Tuesday night in which it wasted a six-run seventh-inning lead Schwarber earned the MVP award going for with a walk as the NL won for the second time in its last tries He became the first non-pitcher MVP without a hit It will be enthralling to see where that goes announced AL manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees There s supposedly a world where you could see that in the future where maybe it s in chosen regular season mix I wouldn t be surprised if people start talking about it like that Concerned about running out of pitchers in an era where no All-Star throws more than one inning Major League Baseball and the players association made the change in In baseball s equivalent of soccer s penalty-kicks shootout the challenge was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off coaches Boone picked Brent Rooker Randy Arozarena and Aranda on Monday and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts picked Eugenio Su rez Schwarber and Pete Alonso for the NL Because Su rez was hit on the left hand by a fastball in the eighth inning the NL turned to its alternate Kyle Stowers Players from both teams stood outside their dugouts particular already in street clothes jumping and shouting after each long ball from their side Yankees coach Travis Chapman threw to the AL batters and Dodgers coach Dino Ebel to the NL hitters Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings and Stowers hit one Randy Arozarena boosted the AL lead to - Ebel had thrown BP to Schwarber two years ago at the WBC He demanded me right before he was like where do you want it Schwarber recalled I m like just middle And he s like I gotcha He took two pitches and deposited the third just over the center-field fence Schwarber took another then hit a -foot drive over the right-center bullpen After letting two more go by he dropped to a knee while pulling the third craned his neck and held his bat it the air as the ball landed in the fourth row of the Chop House seats I didn t hit it obviously my best but I was thinking I got enough of it Schwarber commented And I was just kind of down there hoping saying go go go And it went And it was awesome Aranda followed with a fly well short of the center-field warning track drove a pitch about a foot shy of the top of the right-field wall and hit an opposite-field pop that dropped in medium left Alonso a two-time Home Run Derby champion didn t have to bat and patted Schwarber on the head as fireworks went off at Truist Field I felt like a closer like a closer going into a event Alonso commented and then it s like wait the guy in the field got a double play to end the inning You re not going in MLB after consulting with the Elias Sports Bureau stated in that All-Star Games ending in a swing-off would be listed as tied with a notation of the encounter being decided in a swing-off MLB s official postgame notes listed Tuesday s outcome as a - NL supremacy Ketel Marte s two-run double in the first had put the NL ahead and Alonso s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a - lead in the sixth The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodr guez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr s RBI groundout Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth and Steven Kwan s infield hit on a three-hopper to third off Edwin D az drove in the tying run Paul Skenes the first pitcher to start the All-Star Event each of his first two seasons reached mph on four pitches in a perfect first Jacob Misiorowski a controversial inclusion after pitching in just five major league games in his rookie season fired nine pitches of mph or more in a one-hit eighth days after his major league debut The -year-old righty added to the NL roster by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred reached mph There were pitches of mph or more down from a record last year