Ohtani singles & scores, Kershaw gets a K in All-Star Game

Ohtani scored the game’s first run. Kershaw and Freddie Freeman were removed mid-inning and got ovations in Atlanta.

All-Star games are notorious for their propensity for low scores, and this 6-6 tie after nine innings was anything but that. The 2025 midsummer classic was decided by the first-ever swing-off, with the National League prevailing four home runs to three.

With a little luck involved, Shohei Ohtani and company roughed up Tarik Skubal’s line right off the bat, scoring a pair of runs against baseball’s best pitcher. Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. got on base with softly-hit balls, and both came around to score on a Ketel Marte two-run double.

And if Skubal proved vulnerable in the evening, nobody else was safe. Ohtani tried to be at the forefront of scoring once again in the second, turning on a hanging slider from Carlos Rodón, but the ball hooked foul down the right-field line, and on the following pitch, he grounded out.

Not only was the presence of Dodgers players heavy in this game, but they also were the protagonists of some of the most heartwarming moments. Dave Roberts made a point out of subbing off both Clayton Kershaw and Freddie Freeman mid-inning in order for them to get a proper ovation from the crowd.

Added to the squad as an exceptional Legend pick, Clayton Kershaw had a tough act to follow, coming on in the second after Paul Skenes sat down the American League All-Stars in order. Cal Raleigh was Kershaw’s first adversary, and he smacked a middle-middle heater down the left-field line only to see Kyle Tucker make a fine defensive play for the first out of the second. Vladdy Guerrero Jr. was next up and got caught looking on a strike-three slider. That was enough for Roberts to go out there and have Jason Adam wrap that inning up.

Kershaw was mic’d up for this short appearance, and the highlight of that was him getting angry at John Smoltz for suggesting he threw a cutter.

While not necessarily every All-Star Game should have a legend pick, you can’t argue with the decision in 2025, as Kershaw’s performance was one of the highlights of this midsummer classic.

The starting first baseman for the NL in a particularly significant All-Star appearance for him, with the game in Atlanta, Freeman was replaced in the top of the third with a standing ovation from the crowd.

We already covered four of the five Dodger All-Stars. Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn’t take the field, or mound in his case, after pitching on Sunday.