Precisely when Teoscar Hernández anticipated that one second should quiet down during the Colossal homer Derby, the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger got a lift from a past assistant who out of the blue turned out to be last year’s boss.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr wore a Blue Jays shirt with Hernández’s name and No. 37 on the back as he watched the obstruction, concerning his pal from their experience as Toronto accomplices from 2017-22.
“That was a shock of the evening,” Hernández said. “He brings my pullover from Toronto. Plus, when he goes to home plate, he was attempting to quiet [me] down, as such he had burned through twice, and it worked. He said he expected to help me going into the last round.”
Hernández won the Colossal Homer Derby when he beat region star Bobby Witt Jr of the Kansas City Royals 14-13 in the continue onward round on Monday night.\
The 31-year-old Hernández hit 49 home runs multiple progressions and changed into the focal Dodgers player to win the derby among 11 who have attempted.
Witt, requiring one homer to get together with one out excess, drove a ball to one of the main pieces of Globe Life Field in left-focus, where it hit generally up the wall.
“Right when I hit it I understood I sort of – I didn’t hit it noteworthy. Regardless, probably, I was trying to blow on it or something,” Witt said with a snicker. “The fundamental thing I acknowledged was only no pop … We got to do a couple more bends or something to that effect.”
Kansas City has never had a derby victory. Hernández brought back $1m near the title and Witt got $750,000 for completing in next.
Both completed their two-minute last round with 11 homers before extra swings were added. Witt missed the mark on his basic an extra two swings, then, at that point, hit two huge home runs in movement – one a 457ft drive that got him another swing.
Witt had taken out Cleveland switch-hitter José Ramírez 17-12 in the end changes. Hernández beat Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm 16-15 after a surprising destruction round when both got three swings – Hernández hit two out, and Bohm one. They were tied at 14-14 after the three-minute portion and their additional changes, and Bohm nearly kept away from that, yet the last ball he hit then, appeared on the early warning track in left-focus field.
Ramírez and Bohm both hit 21 home runs to pace the chief round. Witt began with 20 homers and Hernández had 19. The New York Mets’ Pete Alonso missed the mark in his bid to join Ken Griffey Jr as a three-time derby champion when he hit just 12 huge home runs in the main round.
Alonso hit a 428ft homerun to left-centerfield on his most fundamental swing, yet couldn’t get into a musicality. The others taken out after the fundamental round were old region’s most revered Adolis García of Texas, Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna, and Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson.
“It’s frustrating, yet for my inspirations, I acknowledge it’s a gift and it’s strangeness being out there,” said Alonso who has 207 homers in his five derby appearances. “Near the day’s end, it wasn’t my day.”
Ozuna had the longest homer of the night at 473ft. The longest homers hit during games at the field were 472 feet – by Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Heavenly Messengers in 2022, and Oakland’s Seth Brown in 2021.