The American and National League All-Star teams were announced on ESPN on Sunday evening, and two Minnesota Twins are making the trip to Miami.
Miguel Sano will be making his first trip to an All-Star Game, and he’ll do so as a reserve as was announced on Sunday — the two-year anniversary of his major-league debut. Sano was not only beat out by Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez in the balloting as a starter, but also by Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson. Sano has hit the midpoint of the season hitting .272/.371/.548 with 20 home runs — just five of his career-high set last season — 58 RBIs and 48 runs scored.
Ervin Santana is making his second trip to the All-Star Game, with the other coming in 2008 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He also finished sixth in Cy Young balloting that season. That All-Star Game was held at old Yankee Stadium, with the American League beating the National League, 4-3. Santana threw the fifth inning, giving up a leadoff home run to Matt Holliday to open the scoring before inducing a groundout from Ryan Braun and a pair of strikeouts from teammates Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto.
Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were Santana’s All-Star teammates that season.
Santana leads the AL with three complete games — more than 28 MLB teams and accounting for all three the Twins have this season — and through an AL-high 17 starts has a 3.07 ERA (4.71 FIP), 7.0 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a WHIP of 1.09.
The 88th All-Star Game will take place at Marlins Park on July 11, with first pitch coming at 6:30 Central.
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