Ryan Braun Goes 2-For-3 in NL All-Stars' 8-0 Rout of AL All-Stars

WP: Matt Cain
LP: Justin Verlander

HR: Melky Cabrera

MVP: Pablo Sandoval (+.201)
LVP:Justin Verlander (-.362)

Win Expectancy Graph & Box Score

If you only caught the first inning of this game, you caught most of the excitement. The NL All-Stars went up 5-0 after one inning and expanded it to 8-0 in the fourth. Solid pitching kept it an 8-0 game the rest of the way.

Most of you reading this are only concerned about one player, and that is Ryan Braun. He had a great night, going 2-3 with a double and a triple. He drove in the NL All-Stars' first run and scored the second run for them. He also had a leaping catch to rob Prince Fielder of a hit in the fourth inning (which looked better after Bryce Harper misplayed a ball in left field later in the game). He was replaced in the bottom of the fifth inning by Jay Bruce in the batting order and Bryce Harper in left field.

While it was a great performance, it wasn't enough to give the Brewers the game's MVP for the second straight year as Melky Cabrera won it with his 2-3 performance that included a double and a home run. Prince Fielder had the MVP in the game last year as a Brewer.

Here are some quick facts about Ryan Braun's performance:

• He's the first Brewer to have two hits in the All-Star game.
• He's also the first Brewer to hit a triple in the game.
• His WPA for the game (+.110) was the fourth best performance among batters, with only Prince Fielder (+.226 in 2011, +.111 in 2009) and Fernando Vina (+.137 in 1998) having better performances.
  
• It's the sixth best performance overall by WPA, also behind Teddy Higuera (+.186 in 1989) and Lary Sorenson (+.184 in 1978).

Here are also some facts about the game as a whole:

• It's the third straight win for the NL All-Stars after the AL All-Stars won 12 of 13 games (with the only non-win the tie game in 2002).
• The NL All-Stars scored 8 or more runs for the first time since 1998, when they scored 8 in a 13-8 loss to the AL All-Stars.
• The shutout was the first shutout by a team since 1996, when the NL All-Stars shut out the AL All-Stars in a 6-0 victory.
• It's the biggest rout in a game since 1983, when the AL All-Stars beat the NL All-Stars 13-3.
• The NL All-Stars had three triples in the game for the first time in the history of the all-star game. (Several people put this on their Twitter feeds so I don't know who original credit should go to on this one.)

The Brewers are now off until Friday night when they host the Pirates. First pitch is at 7:10 pm. That's just over 68 hours from now.

It will be Zack Greinke vs. James McDonald.