Megill, Misiorowski account for four outs before National League wins All-Star Game in swing-off

There probably won't be another situation this year in which Jacob Misiorowski relieves Trevor Megill; perhaps Brewers fans will see it the other way around at some juncture. But the unconventional arrangement worked just fine in the 2025 All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Megill entered the game in the seventh, retiring the final American League batter of the frame after the A.L. had rallied for four runs, and Misiorowski negotiated a full eighth inning without allowing a run. But though the rookie handed a two-run lead to a pair of closers in the ninth, the National League. needed a first-of-its-kind swing off to prevail after the standard game ended in a 6-6 tie.

It's the first All-Star Game tie since the infamous game at Miller Park in 2002, but unlike that season, Major League Baseball had an appropriate contingency. The new format, adopted in 2022 but never used until now, featured three players from each team, each given three swings to hit as many homers as possible.

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies cashed in all three of his swings to give the National League a 4-3 lead in the derby through two rotations, and when Jonathan Aranda of Tampa Bay couldn't homer, the N.L. claimed victory even before Mets slugger Pete Alonso needed to go to work as the anchor swinger.

Misiorowski gave up hard contact but allowed no runs in All-Star Game debut

Before all that drama came Brewers relief work.

Misiorowski, controversially selected for the team after just five big-league appearances to his name, told pregame hosts that he anticipated getting used somewhere between innings 5 and 7. So when he never emerged from the bullpen, including during a seventh inning when three pitchers wound up taking the mound, perhaps it signaled some concern that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would forgo using the rookie.

But the 6-7 flamethrower trotted into the game in the eighth, and though he gave up some loud contact and a two-out single, he didn't allow any runs. Randy Arozarena of Seattle and Zach McKinstry of Detroit both hit deep drives that were caught in the outfield, and Toronto's Alejandro Kirk also flew out lazily. With two outs, Aranda lined a single through the right side.

It counted as a hold, bridging the gap to the ninth. He threw 102 miles per hour on his first pitch, though his 98 mile-per-hour slider appeared to be a big hit among the players in both dugouts.

Jacob Misiorowski threw a 98.1 MPH SLIDER in the #AllStarGame

Neither dugout could believe it 😂 pic.twitter.com/Su8fKNCWVC

— MLB (@MLB) July 16, 2025

Game falls apart in the ninth

But the American League scored twice in the ninth to knot the score against San Diego's Robert Suarez and Mets closer Edwin Díaz.

After Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to make it a one-run game, Díaz induced a sharp liner down the first-base line that Atlanta's Matt Olson turned into a game-saving out, then worked ahead of Cleveland's Steven Kwan before a slow tapper to third that couldn't get converted into an out. Kansas City's Bobby Witt scored the tying run.

The six-run rally counts as the biggest comeback in an All-Star Game ever, eclipsing the five runs overcome by the National League in Milwaukee in 1955. That game also ended with a homer, when Stan Musial won the game in the 12th.

When Boston's Aroldis Chapman of Boston handled the N.L. in the ninth, the game had something in common with a different All-Star Game hosted in Milwaukee, the dreaded tie score.

Trevor Megill does his job, albeit for just one batter

Megill was summoned for the final out of the seventh after Giants closer Randy Rodríguez struggled, allowing a three-run homer to Brent Rooke, followed by a walk that came around to score on a rare Olson error at first base. That turned a 6-0 laugher into a tense 6-4 game, with Cleveland's Steven Kwan coming to the plate.

Megill threw just three pitches, a foul, a ball and then a bounder toward Arizona third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who made the play easily to end the frame.

National League finds its power even before the derby finish

The National League built its lead thanks in large part to a home run that surely invoked bad Brewers memories; Alonso belted a three-run, opposite field homer in the sixth to turn a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 lead. In the same inning, Arizona's Corbin Carroll added a home run to make it 6-0.

Alonso, of course, hit a similar homer against the Brewers in the ninth inning of the decisive game in last year's National League Division Series. Carroll, for that matter, homered against the Brewers in the 2023 NLDS.

Former Brewers pitcher Drew Rasmussen worked a 1-2-3 inning for the American League; the Tampa Bay Rays pitcher was appearing in his first All-Star Game. He was traded by the Brewers in 2021 in the deal that sent Willy Adames to Milwaukee.

Former Brewers minor leaguer Shane Smith faced two batters in the eighth for the Chicago White Sox, hitting Suárez with a pitch and retiring James Wood on a fielder's choice.

Smith, a Rule 5 selection by Chicago in the offseason, became the second player to make the All-Star team a year after getting selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Suárez needed some attention from trainers after the ball glanced off his hand near the knob of the bat. Assuming no health concerns, Suárez will be one of the more attractive options at the trade deadline in two weeks, and the Brewers could be among the teams jockeying for the services of the power-hitting third baseman.

To everyone's relief, Suárez stayed in the game for the ninth and made a spectacular barehanded defensive play to retire the leadoff batter in the ninth, a feat he couldn't quite replicate on Kwan's game-tying roller.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Megill, Misiorowski account for four outs in 2025 All-Star Game