St. Louis Cardinals’ starting pitcher Carlos Martinez and Kansas City Royals’ third baseman Mike Moustakas have won the final votes for the 2015 MLB All-Star Game, once again proving the dominance of the Missouri fan base. Martinez will be the 34th member of the National League All-Star team, while Moustakas will be the 34th of the American League team.
Carlos Martinez was voted in by the fans, defeating Cincinnati Reds’ starting pitcher Johnny Cueto, Colorado Rockies’ shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, New York Mets’ closer Jeurys Familia, and Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher and reigning MVP Clayton Kershaw.
From 10:00 AM ET to 4:00 PM ET on Friday, fans used the hashtag #VoteTsunami to elect Martinez to the All-Star Game. Martinez has proved his dominance in the first half of the season going 10-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 18 games (17 starts). In 107.1 innings pitched, Martinez has struck out 113 batters while walking 43. This is just Martinez’ third season, and the first in which he has pitched over 100 innings and posted a sub-4.00 ERA. He leads the Cardinals in ERA, wins, strikeouts, batting average against, and just trails Michael Wacha in WHIP. This is his first All-Star selection, and he will be joining fellow Cardinals Jhonny Peralta, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina, Michael Wacha, and Trevor Rosenthal on the National League roster.
Moustakas beat out Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, Detroit Tigers outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, and Minnesota Twins second baseaman Brian Dozier with the hashtag #VoteMoose to become an All-Star. He is the sixth Royal on the American League team, joining teammates Salvador Perez, Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Wade Davis, and Kelvin Herrera. Alex Gordon was also selected to the event as a starter, but he will miss the game with a strained groin being replaced by New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner. Gardner was a final vote candidate before being selected to the team on Thursday.
Moustakas is in his fifth season in the majors, and this will be his first time attending the All-Star Game. He is having a career year, batting .301/.357/.436 with seven home runs and 31 RBI in 75 games this season for Kansas City. Moustakas has 87 hits on the season, trailing Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar by just one hit to lead the club. His batting average is second to Lorenzo Cain, and he has the third-best on-base percentage among his teammates. Moustakas’ .301 batting average is tied with Manny Machado for best among American League third baseman, and he has the third-best on-base percentage among that same group.
The All-Star Game will be taking place at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on Tuesday, July 14th, at 7:00 PM ET, and will be available on TV on FOX.