DENVER — New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso became the third player ever to repeat as Home Run Derby champion when he dazzled the crowd at Coors Field in Denver on Monday night to coast to the win.
Alonso joins Yoenis Cespedes and Ken Griffey Jr. as players who have repeated as Home Run Derby champs. Alonso won in 2019, there was no Derby in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first round was exciting as to be expected. The first two matchups being decided by one homer and the final matchup went into a swing-off. Meanwhile, in the third quarterfinal matchup, Alonso hit a first-round record 35 homers.
In the final matchup of the quarterfinals, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto went to a double tiebreaker, where Soto eventually advanced.
There wasn’t much nail-biting in the semifinals. Alonso and Mancini both advanced with relative ease after Story and Soto, who both batted first, came up short on home runs.
Mancini had a strong performance with 22 home runs in the finals, but Pete Alonso would get into the bonus minute needing just six homers to win and he did it on his first six swings.
Alonso also became the first player ever to hit more than 100 career home runs in the Home Run Derby with 131 total now.
Get caught up on everything that happened in the Derby below.
FINALS
Mancini vs. Alonso
Mancini got off to a hot start, which he needed as the finals are just two minute rounds. Mancini had five homers when he took his timeout with 1:17 left.
He was on fire coming out of his timeout. He hit six in a row before finishing with 17 home runs before the bonus one minute. In the bonus minute, Mancini smashed five more to get to 22.
Alonso needed 22 to tie, 23 to win.
Alonso mashed 17 home runs going into the bonus minute. He would need just five to tie, six to win.
Not only did he get his six, he got it in his first six swings of the bonus minute. Alonso is now the third player ever to repeat as Home Run Derby champion (Yoenis Cespedes, Ken Griffey Jr.).
SEMIFINALS
Soto vs. Alonso
Soto and Alonso were the second semifinal matchup. Soto defeated Ohtani in a multiple tie-breaker playoff in the first round and Alonso crushed a first round record 35 homers in his first at-bat.
Soto hit just 11 homers before the bonus minute and then finished with 15.
Pete Alonso stepped up needing 19 less than he hit in the first round to advance to the finals against Trey Mancini. Alonso absolutely smashed, getting to 16 with ease to advance to the finals.
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.
Mancini got to 13 with about 25 seconds to go to advance to the finals.
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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