Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas is an All-Star for the second time in his career.
In a fan vote for the final spot on the American League All-Star team, Moustakas beat New York's Didi Gregorius, Texas' Elvis Andrus, Boston's Xander Bogaerts and Tampa Bay's Logan Morrison. In updated totals released on Tuesday and Wednesday, Moustakas was leading.
The 2017 All-Star Game is Tuesday at Marlins Park in Miami.
One the eve before the results were announced _ his VoteMoose hashtag was trending nationally on Twitter in the hours before voting was completed _ Moustakas was taking the intrigue in stride.
"I'm just trying to be along for the ride," he said, smiling. "The fans are taking me for a pretty good ride right now. So hopefully, it continues, and yeah, I would love to go to Miami and stick around for a couple days instead of just one."
Moustakas was headed to Florida next week no matter what. He will compete in the Home Run Derby on Monday night at Marlins Park, facing Minnesota's Miguel Sano in the first round.
Moustakas, who also won the Final Vote competition in 2015, entered Thursday batting .275 with a career-high 25 homers and 54 RBIs. On Wednesday, he homered for a sixth time in eight games while the Royals completed a three-game sweep over the Seattle Mariners.
