Moncada homers to lead World to 11-3 win against U.S.
SAN DIEGO - Boston Red Sox farmhand Yoan Moncada hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning and Eloy Jimenez added a three-run shot in the ninth to help the World beat the United States 11-3 in the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday.
The World team snapped a six-game losing streak in the showcase of top minor league talent.
With Raimel Tapia of the Rockies aboard on an error, Moncada, a Cuban who plays for Double-A Portland, hit a line shot to left off Anthony Banda of the Diamondbacks to give the World a 4-3 lead.
Moncada was named Futures Game MVP. The Red Sox agreed to give Moncada a $31.5 million signing bonus - with a $31.5 million tax imposed by Major League Baseball - in March 2015, the highest bonus ever for an international amateur. Cuban authorities allowed him to leave in 2014.
Moncada wore eye black in the colors of the Cuban flag.
Jimenez's three-run homer to left highlighted the seven-run ninth. The Cubs prospect also doubled in the World's first run, in the sixth, and made a spectacular catch of Dylan Cozens' long foul ball against a fence near the right-field stands to end the seventh.
For the U.S. team, Chance Sisco homered and Alex Bregman finished a home run shy of the cycle.
Sisco, who plays for the Baltimore Orioles' Double-A affiliate Bowie, homered to left-center off Francisco Rios of the Blue Jays' high Class A Dunedin to give the United States a 3-0 lead with one out in the fourth inning. Sisco has one homer in 251 at-bats with Bowie.
Bregman, of Triple-A Fresno in the Houston system, tripled in the first, doubled and scored in the third and singled in the fourth. He fouled out in the seventh and struck out to end the game.
The World closed the gap to 3-2 in the sixth before Josh Naylor (Marlins) was thrown out by David Dahl (Rockies) trying to score the tying run from second on a single by Carlos Asuaje (Padres) to end the inning.
Padres farmhand Manuel Margot of the World team reached above the fence in right-center to rob Carson Kelly (Cardinals) of a home run in the sixth.
World starter Alex Reyes of Triple-A Memphis (Cardinals) hit 101 mph. He allowed two hits in 1 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out four and walking one.
Joe Musgrove (Astros), who pitched for Grossmont High in suburban El Cajon, threw a perfect first inning for the United States.
The teams wore jerseys in the mustard and mud color scheme the Padres used in the 1980s.
Former Padres All-Star closer Trevor Hoffman managed the U.S. team. His staff was heavy with ex-Padres, including Fred McGriff, Garry Templeton, Billy Bean and Mark Loretta, plus San Diegan and former big leaguer Mark Prior, the Padres' minor league pitching coordinator.
Moises Alou, now a special assistant in the Padres' player development department, managed the World.