(Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated)

Rookie Leads Mets To Win Home Run Derby

When people look back at this year’s Home Run Derby – assuming anyone actually does that – they will remember the tremendous duel between Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays and Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But they won’t forget the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso. He actually won the event and the $1 million prize on the evening before the All-Star Game.

Guerrero and Pederson battled for three tie-breaker rounds in this fun affair on Monday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland before Guerrero won 40-39, with Pederson hitting a ground ball on his final swing.

Alonso surged into the final round, having earlier dispatched hometown favorite Carlos Santana and belted 23 homers in the head-to-head with Guerrero, who hit 22, to take the championship. Alonso said he will donate 5 percent of the winnings to the Wounded Warriors Project and 5 percent to Tunnel to Towers, a charity that benefits first responders.

He’s the second rookie (the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge was the other in 2017) to win the event. Guerrero finished the evening’s work with 91 home runs; Alonso hit 57.

“It survives and advance,” Alonso said. “You’ve got to go in with kind of a killer instinct. It doesn’t matter how many you hit; you just need to have one more than the guy you’re facing.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

Baseball’s 90th All-Star Game can be seen on Fox at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman