DENVER — The 2021 Home Run Derby is off and running at Coors Field and the first round matchups are not disappointing.
The first round was electric with the first two matchups being decided by one homer and the final matchup went into a swing-off. Meanwhile, in the third matchup, Pete Alonso hit a first round record 35 homers.
In the final matchup of the first round, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto went to a double tiebreaker, where Soto eventually advanced.
Get caught up with everything happening in the Derby below.
SEMIFINALS
Story vs. Mancini
A couple of underdogs made it to the semifinals in Colorado’s own Trevor Story against Baltimore’s Trey Mancini.
Story had a lackluster start with just 10 home runs in his first three minutes. He didn’t earn the extra 30 bonus seconds and finished with just 12 total.
Mancini hit 24 in the first round and he would need just half that to tie Story, 13 to move on.
QUARTERFINALS
Soto vs. Ohtani
For the final first round matchup, Nationals star Juan Soto took on Shohei Ohtani and his league-leading 33 home runs at the break.
Soto was powerful with 18 homers before the bonus minute. In the bonus minute, Soto added four more for a total of 22.
Ohtani didn’t hit a homer until he was 45 seconds into his at-bat. He had just five homers with 1:20 left on the clock when he took his timeout.
Ohtani caught fire in the final minute to finish with 16 before for bonus minute. He needed seven in the final minute to win and six to tie. He got two in the final 10 seconds to force a swing-off to break the tie.
In the swing-off minute, Soto had a strong final 20 seconds, but finished with just six more.
Once again, Ohtani would have a minute to get six to tie, seven to win. And, they tied again. For the next tiebreaker, each batter gets just three swings to see who hits the most home runs.
Soto knocked out his first swing, his second swing and his third swing to go 3-for-3. Ohtani missed on his first swing to end his night. Soto advanced to the next round.
Alonso vs. Perez
In the third quarterfinal, defending Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso did not have a problem getting started like the previous three batters. Alonso crushed a whopping 25 homers before the bonus minute where he ended with 35, a first round record.
Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez gave a valiant chase, but couldn’t quite catch Alonso’s record 35. Perez was eliminated after finishing with 27 homers, the second-most home runs hit up until that point.
Mancini vs. Olson
Trey Mancini was the first batter of the night for his No. 6 vs. No. 3 quarterfinal against Oakland’s Matt Olson. After a rough first minute and his one timeout. Mancini went on to hit 19 total home runs before a one minute bonus round got him to 24.
Matt Olson was strong throughout his at-bat and it was a thrilling finish as he came up just one short of Mancini’s 24.
Story vs. Gallo
No. 7 seed and hitting in his own ballpark, Trevor Story was up against Texas’ Joey Gallo. Story got to 16 before the bonus minute but added just four for a total of 20. Story’s deepest homer was 518 feet, the longest in the Derby through the first three batters and the longest homer since Statcast began tracking distance in 2016.
Gallo was the 2-seed and maybe the most popular choice to win other than Ohtani, but he got off to a rough start and couldn’t make up for it. He almost caught story in the bonus minute but finished one short with 19.
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