Goldschmidt does 'Goldy things' for NL in loss

CINCINNATI -- Five hours before the first pitch of the 86th All-Star Game presented by T-Mobile on Tuesday, D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was busy working up a lather in the gym at Great American Ball Park.

Teammates like to say "Goldy does Goldy things," and lifting weights every day at the park is one of those things.

Getting big hits and scoring runs are two other Goldschmidt specialties. He did both during the National League's 6-3 loss the American League.

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Goldschmidt, who hit fourth in the order for the NL, led off the bottom of the second inning with an infield single to Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson. He advanced to second on Donaldson's wild throw on the play and moved to third on a groundout by the next hitter, San Francisco's Buster Posey.

The three-time NL All-Star then scored his squad's first run on a single by St. Louis shortstop Jhonny Peralta to tie the game at 1.

Video: 2015 ASG: Peralta lofts an RBI single to right field

Tigers starter David Price struck out Goldschmidt swinging in his second at-bat in the fourth inning.

In the sixth, Goldschmidt hit a slow roller to Baltimore pitcher Zach Britton, who fielded the ball cleanly, but made an errant throw to first base that allowed the Arizona star to reach base safely.

Goldschmidt advanced to second on a single by Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, but was eventually stranded at the bag. Goldschmidt finished 1-for-3 with a run scored.

"They are tough pitchers and things didn't go as planned, but we had fun out there," Goldschmidt said. "We played OK, but we would have liked to score more runs than we did."

First-time All-Star A.J. Pollock entered in the top of the seventh inning in center field and shared an outfield with San Diego's Justin Upton in right field and Chicago Cubs rookie Kris Bryant in left. Pollock grounded out to Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado in the bottom of the frame in his only at-bat.

"Hopefully, this is the first of more to come," Pollock said. "The crowd was great the entire game, and it was just a great experience. I wish I could have done more with my at-bat, but we are facing filthy pitchers out there."

Now, it's time for the duo to return to Arizona.

The D-backs start the second half of the season against the Giants on Friday at Chase Field in the first game of a 10-game homestand. Arizona is 42-45 and in third place in National League West standings.

"We just want to go out there and play our game consistently," Goldschmidt said. "We know we will have ups and downs that we had, but we just want to continue to improve and get better. Hopefully, we can make a run, make it to the playoffs and win a World Series. That's the goal."

The D-backs had a chance to enter the All-Star break with a winning record, but were swept by the Mets in the final three games of the first half. The Marlins and Brewers follow the Giants into Phoenix.

"We have high expectations for ourselves," Pollock said. "We have played some pretty good baseball in the first half, but we expect a lot more. I think we are only getting better and better. We have a lot of young guys getting experience, and that's only going to help."