It was a battle for the ages. One that all fans of baseball's longball will not soon forget.
MLB.com reports:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s prodigious power kept Progressive Field buzzing during Monday night’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby. Yet when all was said and done, it was Pete Alonso raising the trophy.
Alonso outslugged Guerrero in a memorable final round, hitting 23 home runs to edge his fellow rookie by one homer. Alonso became the second rookie ever to win the event, joining Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who won in 2017.
Alonso’s total of 57 homers was the third most ever hit in a Derby, and although that was 34 fewer than Guerrero, he beat him when it counted.
“It's survive 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.”
“I got tired, but that’s not why I lost,” Guerrero said. “There are no excuses. He hit more home runs than me and he won.”
Alonso became the first Mets player to win the Home Run Derby outright; Darryl Strawberry shared the title with Wally Joyner in 1986.
Alonso took home $1 million for winning the Derby, and he had pledged that he would donate 5% of his winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project and another 5% to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation if he emerged victorious.
“I respect anyone who puts their life on the line every single day, going to work knowing that they may have to make the ultimate sacrifices,” Alonso said. “There are people that are making sacrifices every single day abroad keeping us free and then there are people at home keeping us safe.”
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