Chris Marrero clinches All-Star Game MVP days after winning Home Run Derby
The baseball player tried to escape the Gatorade bath, but he was a half-step too slow.
So there Chris Marrero went, skipping away from the liters of ice and orange drink teammates dumped on him. Seconds before, he was named one of the Triple-A All-Star Game MVP’s – now he was just trying to avoid a sugary bath.
“I heard it,” Marrero said. “I didn’t want to get wet.”
Marrero, an International League infielder for the Pawtucket Red Sox, and Travis Taijeron, a Pacific Coast League outfielder for the Las Vegas 51s, were both named MVP, even though the International League won 4-2. The low-scoring affair was as much a final result as it was indicative of the way the game was played.
As to the game itself, there were few standouts. No multi-home-run-hitters; no spotless pitching performances; in other words, there was no clear MVP.
But there had to be two, and so there were. Taijeron and Marrero were two of four players – the others were International League catcher Andrew Knapp and infielder Erik Gonzalez – to notch home runs in the game, making them two of the only viable candidates.
Still, none of the four recorded a second hit, their booming long shots later replaced by strikeouts.
Taijeron’s two-run shot in the second gave his team an early 2-0 lead and hope they could break a three-year run of International League wins in the All-Star Game.
“I went down 0-2 right away real quick,” Taijeron said. “I like to say I was baiting him in, but I was just loosening up.”
But his homer ended up as the only scoring the Pacific Coast League could muster all night. Marrero and his teammates, on the other hand, came storming back to a 3-2 lead by the bottom of the fifth.
Marrero’s solo blast in the eighth inning was deep, soaring beyond the bushes in center field, but in actuality it only cemented an already-decided contest.
The other thing about Marrero’s home run was how reminiscient it was of Monday night, when he won the Triple-A Home Run Derby. Eighteen scores in the final round captured him that championship belt, and now he has an MVP bat to match.
He sported it for photographers and reporters alike after the game.
“It’s been a great three days,” Marrero said through a smile. “Couldn’t ask for more.”
The bat is proof of that – that, and the orange Gatorade stains on the back of his legs.
Maybe he didn’t escape the celebration after all.
This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Chris Marrero clinches All-Star Game MVP days after winning Home Run Derby."