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The American League erased a six-run deficit to force a tie game into the bottom of the ninth inning.

The regulation game ended when Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan, 2-for-2 in his All-Star debut at that point, tipped a pitch that appeared to be foul until it spun into a nook just in front of home plate. He was tagged out by catcher Alejandro Kirk for the third out, and that sent Major League Baseball where no game had gone before.

Decided by derby.

Each team chose three hitters who were still at the ballpark, and each player got three swings to crush balls out of the park and break the tie. The team with the most successful swings wins. 

Brent Rooker, the A's designated hitter who sparked the AL with a three-run homer in the seventh, hit two balls out of the park as the first ever "swing off" hitter. The Phillies' Kyle Schwarber answered by going 3-for-3 on his swings. Schwarber's round provided the difference as the NL won the "swing off," 4 to 3.

The "swing off" victory delivered the NL's fifth win the past 22 All-Star Games.

Polar pop

All it took to thaw the Hotlanta crowd on the Polar Bear for a moment was a home run that, for the first time in his career, helped their home team.

Booed as he was introduced and as he came to the plate and throughout the week at Truist Park for obvious rivalry reasons, New York Mets slugger Pete "Polar Bear" Alonso inspired cheers from the Atlanta fans in the sixth inning. Beloved in Queens and momentarily celebrated in Atlanta's Battery, Alonso drilled a home run into the seats beyond right field that lifted the National League toward a 6-0 lead by the end of the sixth inning.

On base for Alonso’s homer was the Cardinals’ lone All-Star, Donovan. He had an infield single immediately before Alonso’s homer opened up a five-run lead for the National League.

Donovan played the final five innings of the game at second base, had a backhanded play for an important out, and went 2-for-3 with two singles.

Alonso’s homer was the first of two by the National League in the sixth inning. Arizona’s Corbin Carroll roped a lifted a solo homer three batters later. It was the first homer in an All-Star Game by a player from the Diamondbacks.

Pittsburgh Paul Skenes started his second consecutive All-Star Game for the NL and struck out the first two batters he faced before coaxing a groundout from Aaron Judge and calling it an evening.

Donovan debuts, collects firsts

One of the first reserves into the game, Cardinals utility fielder Donovan took over at second in the top of the fifth inning.

Donovan didn’t have much action in the field initially.

He helped create some at the plate.

During Donovan’s first career All-Star at-bat, San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. stole second to get into scoring position. Donovan fouled off a pitch from Kansas City lefty Kris Bubic, and then he connected on one for a groundball toward shortstop. The grounder against the shift of the fielders left KC’s Bobby Witt Jr. to rush a throw to first that did not beat Donovan. His first All-Star Game hit was an infield single, and that put him on first for the biggest blast of the evening.

Two pitches after Donovan’s hit, Alonso crushed the three-run homer that pushed the National League out to a 5-0 lead.

An inning later, Donovan and Witt were on opposite sides of another grounder. This time, Donovan ranged to his right, backhanded the grounder, and threw against his momentum to beat Witt to first base with the ball.

Tribute to Aaron brings chills, fireworks

At the end of the sixth inning, the lights went down at Truist Field and the goosebumps rose.

A tribute to the late Hank Aaron and his 715th home run was projected onto the field so that the basepaths and infield became the silver screen for one of the most significant swings in Major League Baseball history.

Clips from Aaron sitting on 714 played on the infield. At one point, the pitcher and fielders were projected at their positions, and there in the batter’s box was the image of Aaron, one shy of breaking the career home run record held by Babe Ruth. The moment his bat connected with the pitch, a single firework shot off from home plate toward left field – just as No. 715 did.

Footprints illuminated around the basepaths following his trot.

Aaron died in January 2021 at 86.

His widow, Billye, was in the crowd standing as she watched the tribute. 

Kershaw, Freeman get their moments

An honorary addition to the National League roster in the same way Albert Pujols was in 2022, Clayton Kershaw got into the game early, got out of the game fast, and got the moment scripted for him by his manager.

Kershaw took over for starter Paul Skenes to begin the second inning.

The lefty, fresh off his 3,000th career strikeout, drew Home Run Derby champion Cal Raleigh as the leadoff hitter. Raleigh ripped a first-pitch line drive to left field that Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker tracked down with a sliding catch toward the corner on the warning track. That out set up Kershaw against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Kershaw got ahead with the closest thing to baseball’s endangered species – an 89-mph fastball. Kershaw spun two curveballs past Guerrero to eventually get to a 2-2 count.

He went to the slider for a called strike three and a finish to his evening.

Roberts removed Kershaw in the middle of the inning so that the could walk off the mound to an ovation from the Truist crowd. Rather than hand the ball to Roberts, Kershaw kept it in his glove as he left the All-Star Game.

Roberts orchestrated a similar moment for first baseman Freddie Freeman. The longtime Atlanta star and current Dodgers All-Star, Freeman was removed in the middle of the third inning so that he too could be escorted by an ovation as he stepped to the dugout and inside.

ABS makes ASG debut

The 95th Midsummer Classic wasn’t an inning old before history was made when catcher Raleigh challenged a call from home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna and technology acted as arbiter.

For the first time in All-Star Game history and the first time in a major-league game during the regular season, players had access to the automated ball-strike (ABS) system. Making its way toward the majors for official games, ABS allows for a batter, pitcher, or catcher to challenge the call at the plate of the umpire, and it uses radar tech to decide if the pitch was in the strike zone or out of it.

In the first inning, American League catcher Raleigh tapped his helmet and challenged Iassogna’s call on a two-strike pitch to Manny Machado.

An image of the strike zone and pitch appeared on the scoreboard to show the pitch clipping the bottom of the strike zone. The successful challenge overturned the call and struck out Machado looking – at the scoreboard.

In thew fifth inning, Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson became the first batter to challenge a pitch. Washington lefty MacKenzie Gore seemed to sneak a 1-0 pitch past Wilson for a strike. The young shortstop tapped his helmet, and the decision went from Iassogna at the plate to the technology on the board. The image showed the pitch missing the strike zone by a couple of inches, and Willson had successfully tapped his way to a 1-1 count.

He would ground out.

AL rallies, with help

The biggest hit that hoisted the American League back into the game came from a likely source, but it took some help from the National League after that moment for the AL to add on.

The Athletics’ designated hitter Rooker echoed Alonso with a three-run homer in his first at-bat. The homer, off a 98-mph fastball from Giants’ reliever Randy Rodriguez, crushed the NL’s shutout bid and took advantage of the work by two close and longtime friends. Childhood teammates in Mexico, Alejandro Kirk and Jonathan Aranda seeded the bases for Rooker. Kirk, Toronto’s catcher, singled, and Aranda, Tampa Bay’s first baseman, walked immediately ahead of Rooker.

The homer cleaved the NL’s lead in half, 6-3.

And then the errors began.

A throw to second base by Hunter Goodman sailed high on Donovan at second base when Maikel Garcia stole second. He came around the score one batter before a fielder error at first base by Atlanta’s Matt Olson kept the inning alive.