ST. LOUIS — World Series champions change. Stadiums change. Stars of the game change.

Baseball's All-Star game winner is always the same.

On a night to savor defense and relief pitching, Carl Crawford pulled back a home run with a leaping grab an inning before Curtis Granderson tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning. That boosted the American League to a 4-3 victory last night at new Busch Stadium, its seventh straight win since the All-Star game has been used to determine home-field advantage for the World Series.

"We came here on a mission and the mission was accomplished," said Mariano Rivera, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his record fourth All-Star save, breaking a tie with Dennis Eckersley.

The home-field advantage innovation began after 2002's 7-7, 11-inning tie at Milwaukee. The AL is 12-0-1 since its 1996 defeat at Philadelphia — the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history.

"It is so important to get home-field advantage in the World Series," said Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon, the AL manager. "So there was a lot on the line there today."

Not even President Barack Obama's ceremonial first pitch helped the NL, which had been 4-0 previously when sitting presidents threw out the first offering. The NL scored all its runs in the second inning, and 22 of its last 24 batters made out.

Despite starting the World Series on the road last year, Philadelphia beat the Rays in five games for the title. Jayson Werth, who ran down Justin Morneau's drive to deep left-center off Francisco Rodriguez to end the ninth, took solace from that.

"Hopefully, we'll get a chance to overcome that obstacle again this year," he said.

Crawford entered with a pinch single in the fifth and jumped at the 8-foot left-field wall to snare Brad Hawpe's leadoff drive in the seventh off winner Jonathan Papelbon, which would have put the NL ahead 4-3.

For the NL, that was typical. Somehow, it finds a way to lose.

"I still don't think there's a good answer for it," Hawpe said.

Crawford became the first non-pitcher to win the MVP with no RBIs since Willie Mays in 1968.

"It's definitely probably my best catch I've ever made," Crawford said. "I didn't think it was going to carry that far. But it carried and I just tried to find the wall and was able to jump up and make a play on it."

Granderson then hit a one-out triple in the eighth against Heath Bell that landed off the bottom of the left-field wall. The drive went over Justin Upton, normally a right fielder, who took a bit of a circuitous route. Bell, the loser, intentionally walked Victor Martinez, and Jones followed with a fly to deep right.

Maddon credited "these stallions in the bullpen" after Papelbon, Joe Nathan and Rivera finished a five-hitter.

"I'm used to seeing it. I've been seeing it for 17 years now," Derek Jeter, Rivera's Yankee teammate, said. "Nothing he does surprises me."

Starting with Hanley Ramirez's groundout off starter Roy Halladay that ended the second, AL pitchers retired 18 consecutive batters before Adrian Gonzalez's two-out walk in the eighth against Nathan. Orlando Hudson singled and, with pinch-hitter Ryan Howard at the plate, stole second before Howard struck out on a pitch in the dirt.

"I got caught off-guard," said Howard, a St. Louis native. "He threw me a slider, and I couldn't hold up."

Given a 40-second ovation before the game by adoring red-clad Cardinals fans in the sellout crowd of 46,760, Albert Pujols went 0 for 3 in six innings, made an error at first base in a two-run first and made some nice defensive plays.

The NL went ahead 3-2 in the second against Halladay with four straight two-out hits. The Cardinals' Yadier Molina had an RBI single, and another run scored when Josh Hamilton's throw from center field to third bounced off the sliding Shane Victorino for an error that allowed the Mau'i native to score. Prince Fielder, winner of Monday's Home Run Derby, batted for Halladay and lined an opposite-field double down the left-field line.

Joe Mauer tied it in the fifth with a two-out RBI double off Chad Billingsley.