Twins pitchers Sonny Gray, Pablo López break down All-Star Game experiences

SEATTLE – When Sonny Gray arrived at the mound Tuesday for his first appearance in an All-Star Game, Rangers catcher Jonah Heim asked him what pitches he threw, so they could figure out their signs.

"That's a different thing, you don't know the catchers and they don't know you," said Gray, who didn't pitch when he was selected to All-Star teams in 2015 and 2019. "He was using fingers too, so I said, two-seam, four-seam, curveball, slider, changeup and cutter."

Gray laughed as he remembered the look Heim gave him.

"Then I said, 'you know what, four-seam, curveball, slider, let's just stay with that today,' " Gray said.

It didn't seem like it mattered much what Gray threw. Nobody was touching it. Gray struck out Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mookie Betts in a scoreless third inning. His six swings and misses were tied with former Twins reliever Yennier Cano for the most among the 20 pitchers who appeared in the National League's 3-2 win.

Pablo López added two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning, permitting two hits.

Gray's first pitch was out of the strike zone and he told himself, "Don't come in and don't do that. Just throw strikes." He induced a groundout against Orlando Arcia before striking out Acuña with a slider. During Gray's delivery on his final pitch to Acuña, he did a double pump with his front leg to mess with Acuña's timing.

"He got mad," Gray, laughing, said of Acuña's reaction.

López, like Gray, needed to make an adjustment after his first couple of pitches were outside of the strike zone. López figured he had more time to warm up in the bottom of the eighth inning, but a line-drive double play sped up his routine in the bullpen.

"Once I threw the first pitch, I was like I've been doing this for a while," López said. "The first pitch was a very lazy breaking ball. I'm like, 'no, stay true to yourself. Keep the same arm speed.' It was better from there."

López thought it was the first time he pitched out of the bullpen since his first major league spring training games. He struck out Pete Alonso and All-Star Game MVP Elias Díaz.

"It's cool to throw the ninth inning," said López, who was the last AL pitcher available out of the bullpen. "That's why if you speak to any closer, the energy is unmatched. It felt different, but at the same time, I knew it was going to be fun."

All the rule changes that were implemented this year — pitch clock, restrictions on defensive shifts, bigger bases — will be used in the playoffs, but one rule that will remain strictly in the regular season is the automatic runner on second base to begin extra innings.

"I'm not sure that I would like to see the extra-inning rule that we use during the regular season move to the postseason," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said. "I just think the difference between the pitch clock and the extra-inning rule is the extra-inning rule is kind of, by definition, outcome-determining."

The Twins are tied for the MLB lead with eight extra-inning wins this season.

• The Twins come out of the All-Star break with a three-game series in Oakland, and it might be their last visit if the A's continue on their current path and relocate to Las Vegas. Gray spent his first five major league seasons in Oakland. "Even then, there wasn't a ton of fans," Gray said, "but I remember all the fans that were there, they showed up and they were there every day. They had the signs and the drums. That was a special group."

• Tigers pitcher Michael Lorenzen could be a top trade target in a few weeks, but he thinks Detroit may not be sellers at the trade deadline as they sit 5 ½ games back in the division. "The Central is up for grabs," he said. "We're piecing our team back together. I don't think we're in that tough of a spot, to be honest. We'll see what happens. I'm thinking we're going to go for it."