Pitchers’ duel: AL hurlers throw 6 scoreless innings, Cano’s fly puts AL ahead 1-0

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Cano’s fly, AL pitching leads to 1-0 All-Star lead

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Robinson Cano drove home Evan Longoria with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning after a two-base throwing error by Dodgers reliever Hong-Chih Kuo, and the AL had a 1-0 lead over the NL after six innings at the 81st All-Star game on Tuesday night.

Tampa Bay’s David Price and four AL relievers combined on six innings of four-hit ball against the NL, which got just one runner to third base early in baseball’s midsummer classic at sun-splashed Angel Stadium.

The NL had hoped a roster loaded with pitching talent would end the league’s 13-game winless skid, but the AL manufactured the first run with an assist from Kuo, delighting the Angels fans making up most of the crowd of 54,408.

After Longoria drew a walk from Kuo to open the AL fifth, the Dodgers left-hander fielded Joe Mauer’s dribbler back to the mound, but threw it high over Adrian Gonzalez’s head at first base, allowing the runners to reach second and third.

Cano’s fly to left was plenty deep enough to score Longoria. Mauer reached third on a groundout, but San Diego’s Heath Bell got Angels star Torii Hunter on a fly to end the inning.

With home-field advantage in the World Series on the line once again, the NL was looking for its first All-Star victory since 1996 — but it would need more offense than its four singles against the AL pitchers.

Earlier in the fifth, the NL’s David Wright and Andre Ethier singled to put runners at the corners, but Detroit’s Justin Verlander struck out Milwaukee’s Corey Hart and got Atlanta’s Brian McCann on an inning-ending fly to the warning track in right.

After Price and Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez opened with two sharp innings apiece, Florida’s Josh Johnson followed the 15-1 Jimenez with two scoreless frames of his own — even striking out Seattle leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki, who has struck out just three times in 28 All-Star plate appearances. The All-Star game was scoreless through four innings for just the eighth time.

The star pitchers got help from the game’s 5 p.m. local start time, leaving a band of sunlight between the shadows on the mound and plate shortly before the first pitch. The resulting twilight conditions left several hitters blinking at the poor visibility.

“It is tough to see,” AL manager Joe Girardi said during a TV interview. “Until these shadows going away, it’s going to be tough to see.”

Or maybe the pitchers were just that good in a baseball season featuring a wealth of superb pitching.

Price, at 24 the youngest All-Star starting pitcher since Dwight Gooden in 1988, cracked 97 mph on Angel Stadium’s radar gun during a 1-2-3 first inning. Andy Pettitte, Cliff Lee — who threw a six-pitch inning — Verlander and Jon Lester each got three outs after Price left.

Longoria’s second-inning double was the only extra-base hit in the first six innings, and the Tampa Bay star also started a double play on defense in the same inning. Longoria is from Downey, a 20-minute drive from Angel Stadium, and played for the Dirtbags at nearby Long Beach State.

Home Run Derby champion David Ortiz came up as a pinch hitter with a runner on base in the sixth, but Washington’s Matt Capps struck him out looking on a 91-mph inside fastball.

Angels teammates Hunter and Jered Weaver got the biggest rounds of applause during pregame introductions. Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, who was next in line for introductions, jokingly stepped out of line and soaked up some of Hunter’s cheers before getting the expected boos that greeted every member of the world champions, who knocked the Angels out in the AL championship series last season.

Vladimir Guerrero, who left Anaheim last winter after six seasons with the Angels, also got a long ovation which he acknowledged with a tip of his cap when he was introduced as the AL’s No. 5 hitter. Guerrero, who has rejuvenated his career with the Texas Rangers, is occupying his old locker in the Angels’ home clubhouse.

George Steinbrenner was honored with a moment of silence and a scoreboard video tribute. The longtime Yankees owner died Tuesday morning, and his players wore black armbands on the left sleeves of their pinstripes.

Derek Jeter was introduced at the plate by a recording of late Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard’s voice. The Yankees captain gets the same treatment at home but this was an All-Star version from Sheppard, who died Sunday at 99.