Stanton, Buxton HRs Power AL to 3-2 Win over NL in 2022 MLB All-Star Game

The American League apparently doesn't believe in losing All-Star Games.

The Junior Circuit won the 2022 edition 3-2 on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, extending its winning streak to nine games.

It appeared as if the National League was finally going to win one when it jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the AL took the lead with back-to-back home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and Byron Buxton during a three-run fourth and never looked back.

While the sluggers from the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins made the difference, Los Angeles players fittingly took center stage right from the start.

Angels star Shohei Ohtani singled on Clayton Kershaw's first pitch, but the Dodgers ace, who was making the first All-Star Game start of his Hall of Fame career, responded by picking him off. He then struck out Aaron Judge, walked Rafael Devers and got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out.

The Dodgers theme continued when Mookie Betts started the scoring with an RBI single after a double from Ronald Acuna Jr., and Paul Goldschmidt extended the National League's lead to 2-0 in the opening frame with a solo homer.

The fun ended there for the Senior Circuit.

Alek Manoah flipped the momentum with an electric and amusing second inning that saw him strike out the side, all while providing entertaining commentary while he was mic'd up.

It was the offense's turn to provide the fireworks two innings later when Stanton launched a two-run homer off Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin that may still be going before Buxton followed with a solo blast to go back-to-back and take the lead.

It turns out overcoming even a one-run deficit in the middle-to-late innings is quite the daunting task when facing a staff full of All-Star pitchers, which the National League found out the hard way after the back-to-back dingers.

Framber Valdez, Paul Blackburn, Martin Perez and Nestor Cortes shut things down in the middle of the game. Jorge Lopez and Gregory Soto combined to throw a scoreless seventh, and Clay Holmes and Liam Hendriks did the same in the eighth.

That left it up to Emmanuel Clase to notch the save, and the Cleveland Guardians flamethrower did just that by striking out the side in a head-turning fashion.