ARLINGTON, Texas — Corbin Burnes is in a balancing act.

An opportunity to start the MLB All-Star Game, as he did on Tuesday night, may only come once. But he also has newborn twins in Arizona, babies he has only spent hours with.

He is trying have the best of both worlds. He went home to Arizona on Sunday, spent just over 24 hours with his family, then arrived in Texas around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. He walked the red carpet, then pitched one inning, walking Shohei Ohtani and giving up a double to Bryce Harper but not allowing a run.

“I wish I wouldn’t have walked Shohei, but it was fun,” Burnes said after his appearance. “There’s really no words to express just the atmosphere, playing around the best players in the game.”

He debated skipping the game altogether, but his wife encouraged him to come, even if it was just for a few hours. Getting the opportunity to start the game, he said, was not a factor in his decision.

“My wife always says you never know when it’s going to be your last,” Burnes said. “You don’t want this one to be the last and not be able to attend. From the get-go she told me, ‘You’re going, you’re going, you’re going.’ It was more me saying ‘Ok fine, I’ll go.’ Family means everything, even being away from them for just the 12 hours is tough. I’m glad I came, it was a great experience. She’s pretty smart, I guess I better listen to my wife when she says something.”

He imagines one day he’ll tell his twins about the time he started the All-Star Game when they were only a few weeks old, but it’s been a whirlwind day — and first half — and he hasn’t had the chance to reflect yet.

Burnes and his wife Brooke found out she was having twins 10 days before he was traded from the Brewers to the Orioles, and at that point it was too late for her to switch her specialist doctors from Arizona to Baltimore. Burnes made it to Arizona for the birth, but could only miss, per MLB’s paternity leave rules, up to three games.

Should that be changed to allow players more time to be with their families? Burnes thinks it should be discussed.

“It’s tough in baseball, you play every day,” Burnes said. “Obviously it would be easier for a starting pitcher to have longer, but a position player, a guy who plays every day, it’s tough to be away from the team. So it’s almost like you have to make it a per player basis ... It’s three days right now, should it be five? Is seven too long? Three days is definitely short. Is there room for a couple more days? I think maybe. It’s something that wouldn’t be a bad discussion to have, give guys time to be with their family.”

The paternity leave provision dates to the 2011 collective bargaining agreement between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the league. The current CBA expires in 2026.

The twins and Brooke can’t travel yet, so Burnes has had to watch the first two weeks of their lives over the phone. It’s difficult, especially as has tries to differentiate the two. That was one advantage of going home on Monday — after spending more time with the girls he can tell them apart now, a little bit of reassurance, he said, that he’s got this.

“Over the phone and on FaceTime it’s hard to tell,” Burnes said. “My wife liked the guessing game, she would put pictures up and I would have no clue.”

Burnes will now head back to Arizona for 48 hours before he has to return to Arlington for the start of the second half. This will be his new normal — traveling home any chance he gets — as they navigate the rest of the season.

“It makes for a tough season,” Burnes season. “We have about 65 games left, I wouldn’t say we are counting down the days because you never want it to feel like something is keeping you apart, but it will definitely be nice to be able to help out more than what I can on FaceTime.”