The 2026 MLB All-Star Game arrived in Philadelphia with the feel of a 250th birthday bash for the United States, complete with plenty of red, white and blue and a roster full of stars who had earned their stripes.

But Citizens Bank Park, long known as a hitter-friendly backdrop, produced fewer fireworks than expected as the American League shut out the National League 4-0 in the 96th Midsummer Classic.

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease struck out the side in the first inning, setting the tone for a dominant AL pitching performance as 10 relievers helped finish a three-hitter in Tuesday night’s shutout of the NL.

New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single in the first against Cristopher Sánchez of the host Philadelphia Phillies.

Chicago White Sox infielder Miguel Vargas added an eighth-inning home run off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Wrobleski, who was pitching on his 26th birthday, for the game’s only extra-base hit. The AL won for the 18th time in 23 games and holds a 49-45-2 advantage overall.

Singles by Juan Soto in the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth and Otto Lopez in the ninth were the only hits by the NL, which failed to advance a runner past first.

Pitchers combined for 27 strikeouts, 15 by AL hurlers.

MLB ALL-STAR GAME SCARE AS RAYS SLUGGER JUNIOR CAMINERO EXITS AFTER TAKING 98 MPH FASTBALL TO HAND

Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, last year’s hero in the first-ever swing-off tiebreaker, led off for the NL. Schwarber replaced designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who skipped the showcase to undergo a knee procedure ahead of the season’s second half.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene and two New York Yankees, first baseman Ben Rice and Bellinger, gained American League starting spots because of injuries.

Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero was hit on the outside of his left hand by a 97.6 mph sinker from St. Louis Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien in the third inning and immediately left the game. The 23-year-old, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse. X-rays were negative.

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Players across the majors will have the day off Wednesday before the Phillies host the New York Mets on Thursday. Action across the rest of the league resumes Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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ARLINGTON, Texas — In a World Cup boasting a galaxy of stars, a lunch-bucket team of blue-collar everymen may wind up outshining them all.

Spain clinched a berth to the final Tuesday by smothering France 2-0 at AT&T Stadium, running its unbeaten streak to 37 games while eliminating a team that had run roughshod through the tournament.

And it wasn’t even close. France came into the game with 16 goals, second only to Argentina in the tournament, then failed to put a shot on goal in the first 81 minutes.

It had Kylian Mbappé, who is tied with Lionel Messi for the scoring lead this summer and was the Golden Boot winner four years ago in Qatar. He was all but invisible until, frustrated, he felled Spanish keeper Unai Simón with a cheap shot in the final minutes, drawing a well-deserved yellow card.

France couldn’t even score into an open net, with Desire Doue lining a low shot right at a rapidly retreating Simón, who had come well off his line and left the goal unattended. For Simón, Tuesday’s clean sheet was his sixth in seven games in this tournament.

Spain will meet the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between England and reigning champion Argentina on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

“Whoever comes, comes,” teenage center back Pau Cubarsí said in Spanish. “I don’t think I want any of them. Let it be God’s will. We’re going to New York and then we’ll figure out who needs to come.”

Winning with defense may not be attractive, but it’s certainly been effective. And for Spain, the approach certainly fits with its team-first mentality.

“There was some talk that our defense and goalkeeping weren’t up to par. But I think we’ve silenced a lot of critics,” Cubarsí said. “We’ve only conceded one goal and we’re in the final.

“This is a team effort, both those who play and those on the bench.”

Added right back Pedro Porro: “We’re just continuing to work with humility. We’ve been doing things right and building on our strengths. We’ve also been correcting the things we haven’t done well. We’re just taking it step by step.”

It wasn’t so much that France played poorly, although it did. It was that Spain forced it to play that way.

France had never trailed in the tournament, but it fell behind in this one on Mikel Oyarzabal’s successful penalty shot in the 22nd minute. Lucas Digne was called for the foul when he chested down an errant pass from Spain’s Marc Cucurella on the edge of the 18-yard box, then reached out his left boot to control it, only to catch the leg of Spain’s Lamine Yamal who was charging in from the blind side.

Salvadoran referee Iván Barton immediately pointed to the spot and Oyarzabal stepped up and obliged, beating French keeper Mike Maignan into the side netting at the right post for his fifth goal of the tournament. The score was the first Maignan had allowed in the knockout rounds, breaking a 360-minute scoreless streak and it would be all Spain would need to get to the final for the first time since 2010, when it won its only World Cup.

Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón makes a save in front of France’s Theo Hernandez during a World Cup semifinal in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.

(Jessica Tobias / Associated Press)

Maignan didn’t do any better on the second shot he faced, this one coming 13 minutes into the second half when Porro came in alone on the keeper, then used his right foot to flick the ball by the goalkeeper to double Spain’s lead.

“My son couldn’t come today because he’s feeling a little under the weather with a fever,” said Porro, who dedicated his goal to the boy. “It was a mix of emotions because he couldn’t be here, and then his dad scored a goal.

“I wanted to look out at the stands and the only people there were my partner, my father-in-law and my physical therapist.”

For Porro, the goal was a measure of redemption as well. There were doubters when coach Luis de la Fuente named him to the World Cup team and those critics grew louder when de la Fuente made him a starter.

But those critics fell notably silent Tuesday.

“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Porro said. “Obviously, I never imagined — not even in my wildest dreams — that I’d be playing in this World Cup the way I am.

Spain’s Pedro Porro celebrates after beating France during a World Cup semifinal Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.

(Florencia Tan Jun / Getty Images)

“But it’s also thanks to my teammates, and thanks to the coach for the confidence he’s shown in me from the very beginning.”

Spain hasn’t lost a game in the knockout phase of a World Cup since 2006 — when it fell to France — playing to draws in the round of 16 in the past two tournaments before being eliminated both times on penalties. They didn’t let it come down to that this time.

“We’re in a final. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Cubarsí, 19. “Maybe I’m still too young for everything I’m going through right now. But soccer is something to be enjoyed. Opportunities will come your way if you’re willing to make sacrifices and all that.”

For French coach Didier Deschamps, meanwhile, the loss marked his penultimate game with a team he’s taken to two World Cup finals in 15 years as coach. He had earlier announced he would be stepping aside after the tournament. Instead of capping raucous Bastille Day celebrations in France with a trip to the World Cup final, Deschamps and his squad will travel to Miami to play in the third-place game.

Some players knelt at the final whistle, head down, staring at the turf.

“There’s obviously a lot of disappointment,” Deschamps said. “The players are devastated because we had high hopes. Even so, we have to be realistic and acknowledge that today we were a step behind technically against a team that played very well.

“It’s our fault, first and foremost.”

Well, not really. The credit should go to Spain.

The United States Men’s National Team had all the momentum when Folarin Balogun’s red card from the Round of 32 was suspended, giving him a chance to play in the Round of 16 — at least, that’s what American soccer fans thought.

The day before the USMNT’s Round of 16 game against Belgium, which Balogun was originally supposed to miss because of a red card in the previous game, FIFA ruled that he would be eligible.

The ruling added to what was already a huge controversy, as it was argued Balogun should not have been red-carded in the first place. Nonetheless, Balogun was active despite an appeal and strong reaction from Belgium.

However, it was hardly a needle-mover, as Belgium embarrassed the Stars and Stripes with a 4-1 win. If anything, the needle might have moved the wrong way, Balogun himself said.

“My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it is something that is so unique,” Balogun told CBS on Tuesday.

“The closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid.”

Balogun said the entire situation was “confusing,” as the team was initially practicing without him. But the team found out on the bus to practice that Balogun would be active.

“Everybody was screaming and shouting,” Balogun said.

BELGIUM MANAGER PRAISES CLASSY GESTURE BY FOLARIN BALOGUN AFTER RED CARD CONTROVERSY: ‘I REALLY LIKED THAT’

But that did not change the whirlwind of emotions, which may or may not have contributed to the loss.

“It’s more just being able to separate the emotion from the job at hand. We’re all professionals, so it’s not something I think was too difficult to be able to separate once we got over the initial announcement. You saw it was a difficult game against Belgium and that can kind of overshadow whether we were focused or not. From me being inside the camp and inside the setup, I know we had full concentration going into the game,” he said.

President Donald Trump admitted to calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of the red card.

“All I did was, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said. “And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.

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“I think it’s a terrible… if they wouldn’t allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain. I relayed it. I didn’t tell him what to do. I don’t believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision because, No. 1, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”

Belgium was knocked out by Spain in the quarterfinals, and Spain will face France in the first semifinal match Tuesday in Atlanta.

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