BC-BBO–All-Star-Home Run Derby

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, July 10, 2019

By The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Mets rookie Pete Alonso has a million-dollar swing.

New York’s newest slugger outlasted a worn-down Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the final round of the All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday night to win $1 million — nearly double his 2019 salary.

Alonso somehow had enough to edge Guerrero, who hit 91 homers but ran out of gas in the last round following an epic semifinal matchup against Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson.

Needing 23 homers to beat Guerrero, Alonso connected for a homer to left-center before flipping his bat high into the air and hugging his pitcher, cousin Derek Morgan. Alonso was then swarmed by the NL All-Stars who were treated to a power display unlike any in the event’s history.

Alonso is the second rookie to win, following Aaron Judge in 2017. He’s also the first Mets player to win the derby outright. Darryl Strawberry shared the title with Wally Joyner in 1986.

Alonso has hit 30 home runs this year and will play in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

Protective netting team decision

CLEVELAND — Extending protective netting down foul lines is a ballpark-to-ballpark decision because of differing configurations, according to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Following a series of foul balls that injured fans, Major League Baseball mandated ahead of the 2018 season that netting extend to the far end of each dugout. Still, several fans have been hurt by foul balls this season.

“We recognized early in this process that it was very difficult to set an individual rule, one rule that applied to 30 different ballparks given their structural differences, and instead we have opted to work with the individual clubs over a period of time to extend netting,” Manfred said before Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

“We’ve made extensive progress on that and I believe that that progress will continue, and I think one of the reasons that we have had progress is that we have not put clubs in an impossible position by adopting a one size fits all rule.”

Manfred said changes during the midst of a season are hard to put in place.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that clubs are going to take a period of time figure out what they can and can’t do structurally before they announce what their plans are going to be,” he said. “One injury is too many, but the fact of the matter is that we know because of the number of balls that hit into those nets, we had less incidents than we used to have. We are better off than we were, and I do believe we will continue to make progress on it.”

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