ARLINGTON, Texas — Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers won the final round of the Home Run Derby on Monday night, beating hometown star Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, 14-13.
The 31-year-old Hernandez hit a total of 49 home runs over three rounds at 3.98 mph, becoming the first Dodgers player to win the Derby.
Kansas City has never had a champion.
With one out and needing a run to tie the game, Witt hit a ball into the deepest part of the left-center field, where the ball hit halfway off the wall.
Both finished the two-minute final round with 11 home runs before the bonus swing was added.
Witt fell short on his first two bonus swings, but then hit two consecutive home runs, including a 457-footer that earned him another swing.
Witt, a product of Colleyville Heritage High School, about 15 miles north of Globe Life Field, was the Royals’ second overall pick in 2019.
This will be his first time competing in the Derby, but he was Washington’s high school home run champion in 2018 and is the only player to have appeared in both tournaments.
Witt defeated Cleveland switch-hitter Jose Ramirez, 17-12, in the semifinals.
Hernandez beat Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm, 16-15, in a three-swing tiebreaker with Hernandez with two outs and Bohm with one.
With the teams tied at 14-14 after three minutes of play and the bonus round, Bohm came close to avoiding it, but then his final ball landed on the warning track in left-center field.
Ramirez and Bohm both hit 21 home runs to lead the first round.
Witt started the game with 20 home runs, while Hernandez had 19.
Pete Alonso of the New York Mets hit just 12 home runs in the first round, failing to achieve his dream of joining Ken Griffey Jr. in winning the Derby for the third time.
Instead of a single-elimination format like last year, the four batters who hit the most home runs in the first round advanced to the semifinals.
After that, the competition became bracket format.
Alonso hit a 428-foot home run to left-center field on his first swing, but he couldn’t get into a rhythm.
Other players eliminated in the first round were local favorites Adoris Garcia of Texas, Marcell Ozuna of Atlanta and Gunnar Henderson of Baltimore.
“It’s unfortunate, but for me it’s really a blessing and it’s fun to be out racing,” Alonso said. “In the end, it just wasn’t my day.”
Ozuna did indeed hit the longest home run of the night, a 473-footer.
Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels in 2022 and Oakland’s Seth Brown in 2021 both hit 472-foot home runs in games at the stadium, now in its fifth season.
Bohm, one of eight players selected to the Phillies’ franchise-record All-Star team, has hit just 11 home runs this season, the fewest of any of the eight Derby players.
He said he was trying to hit as many balls as possible to left field, and that’s exactly what he did, hitting all 21 of his home runs there in the first round.
“Who would have thought that?” Bohm said of his advancement after the first round.
Ramirez batted left-handed, which is different from how he has batted in past home run contests and how he had planned leading up to batting practice on Monday.
The temperature outside Globe Life Park still felt like 100 degrees (38 Celsius) when the derby began, but the stadium’s retractable roof, which opened in 2020, was closed.
When the Rangers hosted the 1995 All-Star Game in the old, roofless stadium across the street, the Derby wasn’t yet a prime-time event, and it was held in the sweltering afternoon heat.
In 1995, Frank Thomas won the championship in a different format, hitting 15 home runs over three rounds.
Albert Belle held the Home Run Derby record with 16 total home runs, but Thomas beat him 3-2 in the final round.
With Garcia’s loss, only three players have won a title in their hometown.
The final three players left were Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals in 2018, following Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier in 2015 and the Chicago Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg in 1990.
