Each inning brought a new pitcher for the National League and the same dismal results for the American Leaguers trying to hit them.
Nine NL pitchers combined to throw a 6-0 All-Star Game shutout against an American League team that entered the game with a combined .559 slugging average. It was a performance that was as impressive as it was unexpected."I don't know what the odds would be in Las Vegas, but probably very high," said one of the NL pitchers, Los Angeles' Todd Worrell.
Added Tom Glavine, "I don't think it's anything that anybody expected and I don't know if it's anything that any of us expected. It just goes to show you we've got some talented pitchers in the National League and the guys went out and showed it."
It didn't start out very promising, as Kenny Lofton singled off John Smoltz to open the game. But Lofton turned out to be the only American Leaguer who got more than one hit, going 2-for-3.
In the second, Smoltz surrendered a leadoff double to Mo Vaughn, the only extra base hit by the AL.
"The first two innings, I didn't like the way I started by giving up a single and a double, but after that, it was great," said Smoltz, who made some subtle changes in his pitching mechanics after losing his last three games coming into the break.
"My last session on the side, I was throwing more stiff-wristed," he said. "I'm a loose-type pitcher and my fastball tends to get a little hop on it, and I corrected it."
Smoltz was the only NL pitcher to go more than an inning. After he was replaced by Kevin Brown in the third, manager Bobby Cox brought in a new arm every inning, trotting out two in the ninth.
Cox said the strategy was made less risky by the 3-0 lead the NL had after two innings.
"I made a strong effort once we got the lead to get them all in," said Cox, who used everybody but Greg Maddux, who cracked a toenail Sunday. "I thought that was very important."
AL second baseman Roberto Alomar noted that NL pitchers issued no walks and said that was one of the keys to their success.
"They threw strikes, they stayed ahead of the count and let us hit the ball," Alomar said. "They were tough."
Once the shutout had gathered some steam, the NL pitchers said each worked hard to make sure they would not be the one to surrender the first run.
"By the time I got in there, it was 6-0 and I definitely didn't want them to score," said Todd Worrell, who pitched the eighth.
"It was kind of catching and we were all cheering for each other," said Worrell, who, along with Smoltz and Pedro Martinez were the only NL pitchers to give up two hits.
Former American Leaguer Brown, in his first year in the NL, was impressed.
"There's a lot of strong arms here," he said. "It's a testimony to the type of pitching we have in the NL."