New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso knocks off Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to capture the 2019 Home Run Derby.
On Monday, the MLB held it’s annual Home Run Derby. New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso was tickled to be invited during his rookie season.
What tickled him more is capturing the title.
Alonso knocked off Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the finals to win the 2019 Home Run Derby.
The 24-year-old, who’ll also be taking part in his first-ever All-Star Game on Tuesday, started off hot.
All he needed was 14 home runs to defeat his opponent Carlos Santana of the hometown Cleveland Indians in the first round. And, as time nearly expired, Alonso, at 13 home runs at the time, launched his 14th of the round to send himself to the semifinals.
In the following semifinal round, after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took down Joc Pederson in a triple-overtime matchup, Alonso faced off against Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves.
In the 4.5-minute time slot, Acuna Jr. launched 19 home runs, which seems like a tough task for anyone to surpass; however, this is the Polar Bear, the man who’s already smashed 30 moonshots this season.
After taking a break at 1:49 to go with only eight home runs, Alonso went on an absolute tear. He didn’t even need the extra 30 seconds given after the initial four-minute time slot was up.
As time expired, Alonso hit his 20th home run of the semifinal round to dead center field, to send himself to the championship round against Guerrero Jr.
The Toronto Blue Jays rookie started out slow, seemingly gassed from previous rounds. However, took it up a notch as the round went on. Hitting the majority of his shots to left field, Guerrero Jr. ended up with 22 home runs in the final round.
Then, Alonso stepped up to the plate, needing just 23 home runs for the HR Derby Title and the $1 million cash prize.
Alonso initially had hit eight home runs when he took a break with 2:47 left on the initial four-minute time slot. He then put himself in a very good position by hitting another ten to get his total to 18 when he took a break with 1:02 to go.
And then, after hitting a line drive home run to tie Guerrero Jr.’s total, Alonso hit a ball to left center field with 18 seconds to win the derby, followed by a celebratory bat flip.
Alonso will thus be rewarded the prize money, which is more than his total salary for this year. He’ll thus donate 10% of the winning purse to numerous charities.