NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Shohei Ohtani and the New York Yankees‘ Aaron Judge were the first players picked for the July 15 All-Star Game at Atlanta’s Truist Park, elected as starters by fans Thursday.

Judge led the major leagues with 4,012,983 votes in the first round of fan balloting, and the outfielder was picked for his seventh American League start in eight All-Star Games, though he missed the 2023 game because of a sprained right big toe. He was also the leading vote-getter during the first phase in 2022 and last year.

Ohtani topped the National League and was second in the big leagues with 3,967,668 votes, becoming the first designated hitter to start in five straight All-Star Games.

The pair was selected under rules that began in 2022 and give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 4 and ended Thursday. Two finalists at every other position advanced to the second phase, which runs from noon ET on Monday to noon ET on July 2. Votes from the first phase do not carry over.

An individual can vote once per 24-hour period.

Remaining starters will be announced July 2. Pitchers and reserves will be revealed July 6.

Seven players from the World Series champion Dodgers advanced to the second phase along with three each from the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets, and two apiece from the Cleveland Guardians, Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

AL finalists: Catcher: Alejandro Kirk, Cal Raleigh; First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.; Second Base: Jackson Holliday, Gleyber Torres; Third Base: Alex Bregman, José Ramírez; Shortstop: Jacob Wilson, Bobby Witt Jr.; Designated Hitter: Ryan O’Hearn, Ben Rice; Outfield: Javier Báez, Riley Greene, Steven Kwan, Mike Trout

NL finalists: Catcher: Carson Kelly, Will Smith; First Base: Pete Alonso, Freddie Freeman; Second Base: Tommy Edman, Ketel Marte; Third Base: Manny Machado, Max Muncy; Shortstop: Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor; Outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr., Pete Crow-Armstrong, Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds will be getting a statue outside the San Francisco Giants‘ home stadium where he set baseball’s career home run record, the team’s CEO said Thursday.

Larry Baer, Giants president and chief executive officer, was asked during a radio interview about a statue for Bonds, and he responded that it was “on the radar.” But Baer didn’t have any details of when it would happen.

“Barry is certainly deserving of a statue, and I would say should be next up,” Baer said during an appearance on San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game. “We don’t have the exact location and the exact date and the exact timing. … It’s coming. All I can say is it’s coming.”

Bonds played for San Francisco the last 15 of his 22 big league seasons, hitting 586 of his 762 homers while with the Giants from 1993 to 2007. He set the single-season MLB record with 73 homers in 2001, and hit his record-breaking 756th homer to pass Hank Aaron in a home game off Washington’s Mike Bacsik on Aug. 7, 2007.

There are currently five statues outside Oracle Park, those of Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Orlando Cepeda. The Giants retired Bonds’ No. 25 jersey in 2018.

Bonds, a seven-time MVP and 14-time All-Star, is not in the Hall of Fame. He failed to reach the 75% threshold required during his 10 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot, mostly because of steroids allegations that dogged him during his final years with the Giants. The Contemporary Player Committee also passed on electing Bonds in 2022, though the committee could reconsider Bonds’ status.

DENVER — Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw inched closer to 3,000 career strikeouts Thursday, fanning five in six innings against the Colorado Rockies.

Kershaw has 2,997 strikeouts in his 18-year career, three short of becoming the 20th major leaguer to reach the milestone.

Kershaw’s next scheduled start is expected at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox.

“I knew I had eight to go,” Kershaw said. “Eight in Colorado is never going to be easy to do. I felt good. But pitched well, got through six. A chance to strike out three at home would be really cool.”

The 37-year-old will be the third active pitcher to reach the mark behind Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Verlander, in his 20th season, has 3,468 strikeouts. Scherzer has 3,412 in 18 seasons.

“He’s certainly competing, making pitches,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he has gotten better each time out, even with not the best of stuff. He just found a way to be efficient.”

Kershaw struck out three in the first two innings Thursday and got his fourth for the final out of the fifth. He struck out Tyler Freeman for the second out of the sixth inning and left the game after retiring the next batter. Kershaw threw 69 pitches, 41 for strikes.

“You always want to be efficient, no matter what,” Kershaw said. “My days of throwing 115 pitches is probably over. Getting through six is probably the biggest thing at Coors Field.

“Doc [Roberts] is doing a good job of protecting me, which I appreciate. I just want to be able to go back out there every fifth, sixth day. Whatever that means is good for now.”

Kershaw recorded two strikeouts on his 73 mph curve and got three more on sliders against a Rockies lineup that had all right-handed batters. He earned his fourth straight win and helped the Dodgers finish a three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory.

The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner and 10-time All-Star received plenty of crowd support in Colorado, getting a standing ovation from some in the Coors Field crowd when he left the mound after the sixth inning.

Kershaw has made eight starts this season after being activated from the injured list May 17 following offseason left knee and foot surgeries. His ERA dropped to a season-low 3.03 after Thursday’s game.

“He has given us a shot in the arm,” Roberts said. “We’re sort of ailing on the starting pitching side. Coming in and giving us valuable innings, I just love that kind of edge that he gives on start day. We certainly feed off that.”