The Reds’ stars shone brightly making their first baseball All-Star Game appearances last night in Texas, despite the National League losing to the American, 5-3. Manager David Bell was on the Nationals’ coaching staff, while Shortstop Elly De La Cruz played 3rd for the NL, and did so wearing Louis Vuitton Nike Jordan cleats, setting the fashion bar pretty high. He got stranded on the base paths after hitting a single late in the game. Pitcher Hunter Greene got within a single throw of a perfect inning when it was tied at 3, but the Red Sox’ Jarren Duran sent his splitter into the stands for a 2-run homer. Duran won the game’s MVP award for that. It looked like a good time was had by all, though, and now the stars are rejoining their clubs for the start of the regular season’s second half. The Reds open it against the Nationals in DC Friday night. We’ll have the action for you, starting at 7:15 on the Sports Voice, 103.9 WRBI.
What’s next for the most prominent local player in the major leagues? Hard to tell. 2015 Batesville High grad Bryan Hoeing may resume his relief pitching role, or be forced by other pitchers’ injuries to start more games, besides the ones he opened in recent weeks. Hoeing tells our Rob Lafary this week in the Osgood Journal that despite not getting into last week’s Reds games in Cincy, just being there was, in his words, “one of the coolest moments of my baseball career.” He recalls multiple boyhood trips there with his family. Former Bulldog coach Alex Davis took his to the Ballpark to see Bryan, and he says he’s regularly in touch with his former basketball coach, Aaron Garrett, too. Hoeing hopes youth players around the region look at his success getting to the big leagues, and realize anything’s possible. The Marlins open their 2nd half against the Mets in New York.
The 30th anniversary run of the Brickyard 400 fires up Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. And we know a lot of you are fired up about it, too. Well, we’ve got your tickets to the race. Be listening to Brent Lee about 7:40 tomorrow morning, and you could win a 4-pack of tickets to the Brickyard. And if you don’t go see it in person, not to worry. We’ll have the broadcast right here on the Place for The Race, 103.9 WRBI, beginning at 1:30 Sunday afternoon.
You might’ve already heard about hoops star Caitlin Clark’s face gracing the hood of a NASCAR Cup racer this weekend. What’s her real-life face doing? The Fever are said to now be in the top 5 of the WNBA power rankings, and that’ll be tested when they face the Dallas Wings tonight.