National League puts up a Brave front

Those young and powerful National League arms were as dominant as advertised Tuesday night, Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez, Florida’s Josh Johnson and the Dodgers’ Jonathan Broxton lighting up the radar gun in Angel Stadium.

The NL rode that pitching and Atlanta catcher Brian McCann’s two-out, three-run double in the seventh inning to a 3-1 victory over the American League in the 81st All-Star game, ending a 13-year winless streak against the AL in the annual mid-summer showcase.

“It was a long streak, an aberration, and I don’t have a reason for it,” Cincinnati third baseman Scott Rolen said after the NL beat the AL for the first time since 1996 to earn home-field advantage in the World Series.

“It’s been a pitcher’s game for the most part, and when you get the best pitchers in the game throwing everything they have for one inning, that’s a tough spot for the hitters. … No one really hits in All-Star games, because everyone throws 100 mph.”

That’s why Rolen, a 35-year-old veteran who has had a number of back and shoulder surgeries, took matters into his own hands — or legs, actually — in the seventh.

With the NL trailing, 1-0, Rolen hit a one-out single to center against Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes, and St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday followed with a ground-ball single to center.

Rolen is not the swiftest of foot, but he is one of the game’s better baserunners. Knowing Angels center fielder Torii Hunter was playing deep, Rolen flew around second, taking third with a head-first dive ahead of Hunter’s throw.

AL Manager Joe Girardi summoned Chicago White Sox left-hander Matt Thornton, who got Arizona pinch-hitter Chris Young to pop to first for the second out.

But Thornton walked Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd, and McCann laced his double into the right-field corner to score all three runners for a 3-1 lead.

“I thought that needed to be done at the time,” Rolen said, when asked if it was a gamble running on a nine-time Gold Glove winner. “I took a shot at third in a one-run game. That’s the way I was taught to play the game. I challenged him, and it worked out.”

Rolen said he “wasn’t sure that turned the tide of the game — that was a pretty big double by McCann” — but NL Manager Charlie Manuel praised Rolen’s aggressive tack.

“That kind of set up our scoring,” the Philadelphia manager said. “Rolen is a good player. He’s a tremendous baserunner. People don’t say a whole lot about him anymore, but he’s a solid player.”

The AL threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Toronto’s John Buck doubled off Holliday’s glove in left with one out, Texas’ Ian Kinsler walked, and Toronto’s Vernon Wells grounded into a fielder’s choice, putting runners on first and third.

Up stepped Hunter with a chance to produce a memorable All-Star moment in his home stadium, and fans greeted him with chants of “Tor-ii! Tor-ii!”

But Hunter struck out, waving meekly at a pair of Adam Wainwright breaking balls.

Boston slugger David Ortiz opened the ninth with a single against Broxton, but Adrian Beltre whiffed on a 98-mph fastball, and Byrd forced the slow-footed Ortiz at second with a strong throw from right field on what appeared to be a bloop single by Buck.

Girardi left his only available position player — Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, who has 597 homers in his career — on the bench, and Kinsler flied to center to end the game.

“I definitely was looking for him,” Manuel said of Rodriguez. “He’s one of the better hitters in the game, if not the best. That was going through my mind.”

The AL took advantage of Dodgers reliever Hong-Chih Kuo’s error in the fifth to score an unearned run. After Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria walked, Minnesota’s Joe Mauer hit a dribbler to the third base side of the mound.

Kuo’s throw sailed about eight feet over Adrian Gonzalez’s head at first, putting runners at second and third with none out, and Longoria scored on Robinson Cano’s sacrifice fly to left.

But that was the only blemish on an NL pitching staff that got two scoreless innings each from Jimenez and Johnson and a combined 41/3 scoreless innings from San Diego’s Heath Bell, Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay, Washington’s Matt Capps, Wainwright, San Francisco’s Brian Wilson and Broxton.

“There were a number of at-bats that were critical, where a hit in any situation stretches the lead for the AL, and our guys came through,” Padres Manager and NL coach Bud Black said. “There were some good offensive players in this game, but pitching sort of ruled the day.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com