ARLINGTON, Texas — There was little doubt that Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game was in Texas.
There was a cowboy who rode on horseback from the outfield before the game began. He also performed lasso tricks while riding, which was immensely impressive.
The starters then handed out brown cowboy hats to young fans during the starting lineups.
The Texas-themed pregame festivities were capped by country singer, and proud Texas native, Cody Johnson handling the National Anthem. Yes, he too wore a cowboy hat — do you notice a theme? — but Cody’s mama must have raised him right because not only did he take off his Stetson but he then respectfully sang the heck out of it.
Yes, it was a Texas-themed extravaganza but that didn’t mean the Midsummer Classic didn’t have a large dash of Louisiana flavor.
The recognition began as three players with Bayou State ties had their faces plastered onto the giant scoreboard — or Texas-sized if you like — for the announcement of the rosters for the American and National League squads.
Former Northwestern State star and current Cleveland Guardians designated hitter David Fry, and former Parkway High and Centenary College star pitcher Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals were shown first.
A short time later Pittsburgh Pirates rookie phenom and LSU national champion Paul Skenes was put on the board as the starters were announced.
Olivia Dunne was also in attendance. You may have heard of her.
In case you were wondering if the stadium crew took time to pan in the crowd to show Skenes’ widely popular girlfriend — the answer is yes, the cameraman understood the assignment to showcase the LSU gymnast who moonlights as a social media superstar and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model.
Skenes eventually took the mound to start for the National League and he was gracious enough to give every baseball fan what they had wanted. After recording back-to-back outs, Skenes walked Juan Soto which meant the 39,000-plus in attendance saw Skenes take on Aaron Judge.
The Pirates rookie got the New York Yankees superstar and former AL MVP to ground out to end the inning.
A little while after Skenes was being interviewed in the dugout in the third inning, Fry came into the game to pinch hit for Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez.
The former Demon seized his moment as he laced a single off of San Francisco Giants Logan Webb into left field, bringing Soto home to tie the game 3-3.
Fry, playing a 10-minute ride from his hometown of Colleyville, got another at-bat in the fifth but popped up to shortstop. A guy who was hoping to have an MLB at-bat at the start of 2023 got a pair of trips to the plate in the 2024 All-Star Game. Is this a great country, or what?
Then there was another bit of Louisiana flavor as former LSU national championship-winning football coach Nick Saban was seen in the crowd. Saban was taking a breather from all that talking he has been forced to do this week as an ESPN analyst over at Southeastern Conference Media Days in neighboring Dallas.
That left only Lugo to have his moment on Tuesday night, which came in the seventh inning.
Lugo started by giving up a single to center field to Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz, got Jackson Merrill to ground out but then gave up a single to Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds.
Lugo got out of the jam by striking out Ryan McMahon and getting Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna to ground out.
The AL held off the NL for a 5-3 victory and it was a banner night for the state of Texas, but it had a healthy dash of Louisiana flavor.
Contact Raymond at sportswithrp3@gmail.com