Hendriks to J-Rod: 'Don’t throw the ball away!'

LOS ANGELES -- Having baseball players mic’d up during games never disappoints. Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah stole the show at the 2022 MLB All-Star Game with his performance on the microphone. The always entertaining Liam Hendriks also made sure to deliver another memorable moment during the American League’s 3-2 win over the National League at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.

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The White Sox reliever faced just one batter -- Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud -- in the bottom of the eighth inning. d’Arnaud flipped a lazy fly ball to Mariners star outfielder Julio Rodríguez in center field.

Though it’s the 33-year-old right-hander’s third All-Star Game and second appearance, Hendriks said he collects everything from his playing career. Getting the ball from the first Midsummer Classic hosted at historic Dodger Stadium in 42 years was definitely memorabilia he wanted.

“Don’t throw the ball away!,” Hendriks yelled at Rodríguez, who pretended to throw the ball into the center-field bleachers. “Julio! Julio! Give me the ball! Give me the ball!”

What Hendriks didn’t know, however, was that Rodríguez was also mic’d up and could hear the exchange where the White Sox reliever said he wanted to keep the ball. Rodríguez wanted to make Hendriks sweat a little.

“I could hear him say that he wanted to keep the ball and I was messing with him because he didn’t know I had a mic that I could hear him,” Rodríguez laughed. “It was fun. It was fun getting to talk to those guys during the All-Star Game.”

It all turned out fine for Hendriks, who squatted down as a catcher and secured the ball from the Mariners’ outfielder.

“I get everything authenticated,” Hendriks said. “I gotta keep this one.”