Barton Silverman/The New York Times
In his final All-Star appearance, the Yankees' Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He was the game's most valuable player. More Photos »
Matt Harvey's All-Star debut in front of his home fans provided all the theater the Mets and Major League Baseball had hoped it would Tuesday night. But eight innings later, it was overshadowed by the arrival of Mariano Rivera.
Rivera, the 43-year-old Yankees closer playing in his 13th and final All-Star Game, was called upon in the bottom of the eighth inning to help preserve the American League's 3-0 lead over the National League in front of a record Citi Field crowd of 45,186.
As Rivera trotted in from the bullpen and began taking his warm-ups, his teammates remained in the dugout instead of taking the field, waving their caps and cheering along with the fans. Rivera, who usually comes on in the ninth, stood alone on the mound and saluted both dugouts and everyone in the stands.
"That's not baseball," Rivera said, laughing afterward. "It felt weird. Basically, I was there alone with my catcher and I didn't know how to act. At that moment, I didn't know what to do."
Rivera rewarded his teammates with a 1-2-3 inning. Even Mets fans stood and cheered when he was done. It was his ninth appearance in an All-Star Game, and he has never allowed an earned run.
Joe Nathan of the Texas Rangers closed out the game in the ninth as the frustrated N.L. hitters went down without much fuss.
It was A.L. Manager Jim Leyland who arranged to have Rivera to enter in the eighth rather than risk saving him his usual role in the bottom of the ninth. Leyland's fear was that if the N.L. rallied in the bottom of the eighth, took the lead and closed out the game in the top of the ninth, Rivera would never get in.
"This was one of the toughest games I ever had to manage, Leyland said, "because you have all these different scenarios that might happen. But this was really about trying to manipulate it so that we go Mariano at the right time."
The salute to Rivera stood in stark contrast to how the game began. On just the third pitch of the 84th All-Star Game, the first at Citi Field, Harvey, who gave up a leadoff double to Mike Trout, drilled Robinson Cano in the right leg just above the knee with a 96 mile-per-hour fastball.
Cano stayed in the game as Miguel Cabrera struck out, but then was taken out, walking slowly to the dugout. As he walked off the field, Cano passed in front of the mound. He and Harvey had a brief but civil exchange — a far cry from the bitterness that ensued after another famous hit-by-pitch incident, between Roger Clemens of the Yankees and the Mets' Mike Piazza in a regular-season game in 2000.
"He said, 'My bad,' " Cano explained. "I said, 'No problem.' I know he don't want to hit nobody, but just part of the game, so what else you can do?"
X-rays taken at Citi Field were negative, and Cano said he sustained a contusion. He said he did not think it was very serious but was not definitive about playing Friday against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
"Hopefully, yeah," he said.
On a warm night in which the N.L. batters managed only three hits — one by the Mets' David Wright — Harvey's bruising pitch was one of their hardest hits of the night.
The Yankees, already reeling from a series of injuries, were now facing the possibility that their best player had been taken down by the Mets captivating 24-year-old ace in what is essentially an exhibition event.
Harvey's second inning was smoother. He started off David Ortiz with two breaking balls and then got him to pop up on a fastball. Then he struck out the Orioles' Adam Jones on a fastball that registered 98 m.p.h., and got Minnesota's Joe Mauer to line out to left field.
Harvey is expected back in this event, perhaps multiple times over his career. But when Rivera walked off the mound in the eighth inning, it was for good.
And watching him was Cano, who stuck for the big moment even though he was long out of the game.
"It's an honor, to be with a guy like Mariano, who saw me coming up through the seasons, when I was signed, 18 years old, and now I'm 30," Cano said. "So to be able to see him and spend the time here with him, why not stay here and just watch and see if he can pitch?"
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