Midwest League All-Star Game: East powers past West
Most regular visitors to Fifth Third Bank Ballpark will tell you that the ball tends to carry better to right field than it does to left.
Unfortunately for the hometown Western Division, the Eastern Division’s starting lineup didn’t know better, and spent the first two innings of Tuesday night’s Midwest League All-Star Game peppering and clearing the left field wall.
The Eastern stars cranked 2 homers in the first inning and another in the second and jumped out to a 13-0 lead on their way to an 18-2 thrashing of the West’s best.
South Bend second baseman Gerson Montilla got the party started went he blasted a one-out, 3-2 pitch past the scoreboard. But as stunning as that shot was, Great Lakes’ O’Koyea Dickson, the Eastern Division’s designated hitter, launched an even more impressive rocket beyond the left field deck two batters later.
“I’ve been working on hitting better with runners in scoring position, and I was just trying to hit a sac fly,” Dickson said. “I’m just excited to share this experience with the future major-leaguers who are here.”
The visitors were back at it in the second as Lake County’s Francisco Lindor led off with a single, Montilla walked, and Kevin Pillar from Lansing knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly. Dickson collected his second hit, a single, and next two batters walked to load the bases for West Michigan’s Steven Moya, who then drove in 3 runs with a triple.
Bowling Green’s Tyler Goeddel added a 2-run homer to cap the second-inning scoring — and end whatever suspense the game may have offered.
“After the first couple innings the important thing was for everyone to get out there and just swing the bat, pitch well, and have some fun,” Kane County and Western Division manager Brian Buchanan said.
It was a tough night for Buchanan’s players. Starters Jorge Bonifacio and Lane Adams, and reserve Daniel Mateo combined to go 0-for-6.
“It’s not the outcome you want from an all-star game,” Buchanan said. “We got everyone into the game and they all got to experience this, and that’s the main thing.”
The lone highlight for Kane County came in the fifth inning, when Matt Ridings faced one batter and struck him out on three pitches.
“I just wanted to throw strikes and have fun,” Ridings said. “I threw him two fastballs down the middle, and then I think I tricked him on the third pitch.”
Eastern Division starter Adys Portillo, from Fort Wayne, earned the win. Dickson, a San Francisco native playing in his first all-star game, was named the MVP.
“This means a lot,” Dickson said. “My family came in last night and surprised me, so that makes this even more special.”