CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – All eyes were on Progressive Field on Monday night for the 2019 MLB Home Run Derby and some of baseballs brightest stars delivered in record-breaking fashion.
Mets rookie Pete Alonso hit 23 home runs, en route to the derby win and $1 million in winnings. He edged out Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit 22 home runs in the final.
Alonso is the second rookie to win the derby. He did just enough to advance all night long, beating Carlos Santana 14-13 in the first round and then topping Ronald Acuna Jr. 20-19 in round two. He hit 57 homers total, blasting walk-off home runs in each round.
Guerrero may not have won, but he had a record setting night. The Blue Jays star hit 91 home runs, the most in Home Run Derby history.
Guerrero hit towering homers all night long, which included an epic showdown against Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second round. The two sluggers went toe-to-toe, before Guerrero advanced.
Both players hit 27 home runs during the allotted time and then they matched each other with nine home runs in the tiebreaker round. They ended up tying each other twice more, before Guerrero hit two homers to Pederson’s one to advance to the derby final. Guerrero finished with 40 home runs in the second round.
Todd Frazier of the Mets has the career derby record with 92 home runs. Guerrero almost beat that in one night.
Santana may not have won the derby, but the City of Cleveland got quite a consolation prize.
