Rays’ Shane McClanahan will be AL All-Star starter

There was no question Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan had a good enough first half — and the statistics to show it — to deserve to be the American League starter for Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Monday afternoon brought the news that he will get the opportunity to take the mound at Dodger Stadium, opposed by one of his favorite players, Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw.

AL/Astros manager Dusty Baker made the announcement during a news conference at the stadium, noting “I‘ve never seen (McClanahan) pitch ... but everybody that I’ve talked to told me that he is nasty. ... I’m excited to see him pitch, except when he’s pitching against us in September.”

McClanahan, who was 10-3 with a majors-best 1.71 ERA and 147 strikeouts (second-most) in 18 starts, said he appreciated the opportunity.

“I’m honored,” McClanahan said in Los Angeles. “There are so many deserving guys in the AL who had a heck of a year so far, and giving me consideration for this was truly just an honor for me to take the ball and have Dusty see me pitch for the first time.”

Baker said “there was consideration” to have Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani start, but he received word from “Ohtani’s camp” that it “preferred” he doesn’t pitch. “So then that’s why we chose Shane,” Baker said. The Astros’ Justin Verlander would have been another option, but he withdrew after pitching Saturday.

Actually, Baker should have seen McClanahan pitch, as he appeared against the Astros in Game 6 of the 2020 AL Championship Series on Oct, 16, 2020.

The Rays were down 4-1 after five innings; McClanahan — who made his historic big-league debut in the first round of the playoffs — worked 1-2/3 innings, allowing three runs in what ended up a 7-4 loss.

McClanahan also made a pitch Monday for some of his Rays teammates who he felt were “very deserving” to be All-Stars: reliever Jason Adam, infielder Yandy Diaz, now-injured outfielder/first baseman/DH Harold Ramirez.

“I feel like they should be here, and obviously it didn’t work out,” McClanahan said. “Those guys are fantastic players, and I’m very lucky to call them my teammates.”

McClanahan is the second Rays pitcher to earn starting honors for the All-Star Game, following David Price in 2010. Price was one of three Tampa Bay players in the starting lineup that year, joined by leftfielder Carl Crawford and third baseman Evan Longoria.

McClanahan said last week he planned to bring a Kershaw jersey he had at home to the game to get signed.

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