Star burst: Diaz blows save, Segura denied MVP

For the rest of the Mariners season’s road trips, Edwin Diaz buys Jean Segura’s drinks, calls the Uber drivers and shuts up when told to.

Segura seemed to be the no-brainer MVP of the 89th MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., when his three-run homer in the eighth gave the American League a 5-2 lead. But Diaz blew the save by giving up a two-run homer in the ninth to Cincinnati’s Scooter Gennett to to tie the game at five.

Yet Diaz earned the win when the AL rallied for three runs in the 10th for an 8-6 triumph and the National League’s sixth consecutive defeat.  Segura, voted onto to the team Wednesday as the 32nd player after an intense campaign by the Mariners’ marketers, was denied the MVP by writers voting at the game in favor of Alex Bregman of Houston, whose solo homer in the 10th broke the tie.

Had Diaz managed the save, Segura, whose blow was off Brewers’ relief phenom Josh Hader, likely would have been the Mariners’ second All-Star MVP in a row. Robinson Cano won the award last year in Miami with his game-winning homer in the 10th.

The over-amped Diaz had shaky outing, with 23 pitches and 12 strikes. He nearly beaned Colorado’s Trevor Story before striking him out, then walked J.T. Realmuto ahead of Gennett and his homer.

The game’s 10 combined home runs on a muggy, 82-degree night at Nationals Park obliterated the All-Star Game record of six in 1971. Thirteen of the 14 runs were from homers, the other scored by Segura after he singled in the 10th and plated the game’s final run on a sacrifice fly by Michael Brantley.

Segura was joined by George Springer and Mitch Moreland as the game’s only batter with more than one hit.

The Mariners’ other two entrants, RF Mitch Haniger and DH Nelson Cruz, had quiet games. Cruz walked and was out on a force play at second, and Haniger was 0-for-2 in his debut All-Star game.