American League beats National League 3-0 in All-Star game

photo American League All-Star Chris Davis, of the Baltimore Orioles, hits a single during the fourth inning of Tuesday night's Major League Baseball All-Star game.

NEW YORK - Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect eighth inning in his final All-Star appearance, Jose Bautista, J.J. Hardy and Jason Kipnis drove in runs to back a night of pulsating pitching, and the American League beat the National League 3-0 Tuesday night to stop a three-year losing streak.

Ten pitchers combined a three-hitter and the 43-year-old Rivera, who is retiring at the end of the season, remained unscored on in nine All-Star innings. Rivera won the MVP award.

The only older pitcher to appear in an All-Star game was 47-year-old Satchel Paige.

Rivera was left alone on the field for a 90-second standing ovation, waving his cap to the crowd and touching it to his heart as the other All-Stars watched from the dugout railing and applauded.

Bautista had a sacrifice fly in the fourth off Patrick Corbin that stopped the AL's 17-inning scoreless streak. Hardy added a run-scoring grounder in the fifth against Cliff Lee and Kipnis hit an RBI double in the eighth off Craig Kimbrell.

Matt Harvey and Max Scherzer dazzled with pitching at the start. Harvey threw two scoreless innings, striking out three, and Scherzer retired the side in order in his only frame.

The Yankees got a scare when Harvey hit Robinson Cano on the side of his right knee in the first, forcing him from the game. An X-ray was negative, and Cano was diagnosed with a bruised quadriceps that did not seem major.

"A little tight. I didn't want to aggravate it and just try to play through a situation," Cano said. "Nothing bad."

Before a record crowd of 45,186 at Citi Field, the New York Mets hosted baseball's big summer event for the first time since 1964 at Shea Stadium.

Harvey was followed by Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who retired three in a row.

The NL had won three in a row after losing the first seven games after Major League Baseball decided the winning league gets home-field advantage for the World Series.

Following a trend that began last summer in Kansas City, many players wore flashy spikes they would never use during the regular season - bright orange high tops for Adam Jones, black and gold for Arizona's Corbin.

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