Atlanta Braves: Highlights from the 2019 MLB All-Star game in Cleveland

Three Atlanta Braves stars had the opportunity to participate in the much-anticipated summer classic Tuesday night along with some of baseball’s current and rising stars.

July is always an exciting time of year for baseball fans. They get the opportunity to see the young talent on display in the Future’s Game followed by a barrage of homers in the Home Run Derby.

Fans are then treated to an exhibition game between the best of the best from the National and American Leagues. The opportunity is there to see players that some are rarely exposed to.

It’s definitely something special to behold. For National League fans, it’s been tough to watch in recent years. The American League has won the previous seven meetings between the two sides.

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That would once again be the case in 2019 as the American League won the contest by a final score of 4-3. This brings the American League to an all-time series lead of 45-43-2.

Still, a pretty evenly matched event historically but has been dominated in recent years by the AL.

Let’s get into a few takeaways from the game.

1. The Braves Were Represented Well

Atlanta Braves fans had a few representatives and it was nice to see the team getting some love this year with 3 All-Stars (four when you include manager Brian Snitker being on the coaching staff).

Freddie Freeman, Mike Soroka, and Ronald Acuna Jr. were all selected to the 2019 All-Star game. Freeman and Acuna started the game at their respective positions and Soroka found himself on an impressive pitching staff.

Pitching was a huge highlight during the game on Tuesday night. Hitters had a tough time finding any rhythm early on. Justin Verlander worked a 1-2-3 first inning and Freddie Freeman was one of two strikeouts that inning.

To his credit, I’d have a hard time hitting while being mic’d up and answering questions while facing a reigning AL Cy Young Award Winner.

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However, it was really awesome to see how Freeman engaged with everyone before, during, and after his at-bat. The guy just really loves playing the game of baseball.

He finished up his day 0-1 with a walk and played some good defense in the game.

Ronald Acuna Jr. had a more difficult night as he struck out two times. However, he wasn’t alone in those struggles as the AL pitching staff struck out 16 batters during the game.

It’s alright though because Acuna represented the Atlanta Braves extremely well in the home run derby on Monday evening. He showed everyone just how good he is offensively by hitting the ball out of the park wherever he wanted to.

I was extremely impressed by how Acuna was able to hit the ball to left field, center field, and most impressively, to the opposite (right) field. That proves just how complete of a hitter Acuna is. So I was very pleased with how he represented the organization in Cleveland.

Mike Soroka had a very impressive outing for the National League. You could tell he was dealing with some nerves as his first three pitches were balls to Whit Merrifield. However, he was able to calm himself down and execute a 1-2-3 scoreless frame in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Soroka was featured in a lineup of some great pitchers and it was nice to see him have a clean inning. His inning was even better than Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler of the Dodgers.

Soroka proved that he absolutely deserved to be there and will likely find himself in many more All-Star games during his career.

Your Atlanta Braves were represented well in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday night. Fans of Major League Baseball should expect to see multiple Atlanta Braves representatives for many years to come.