Late surge powers hometown favourite
Bryce Harper thrilled the home crowd and made his dad proud, winning the all-star home run derby on Monday night with an exceptional display of power that carried him past Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs 19-18.
Harper hit the contest-winning blast in extra time, the reward for hitting two homers at least 440 feet during the four minutes of regulation. The six-time all-star arranged to have his dad, Ron, pitch to him in the annual contest on the eve of the all-star game.
The 2015 NL MVP beat Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves and Max Muncy of the Dodgers before trumping the fifth-seeded Schwarber. Harper trailed 18-9 with 1:20 left before rallying. He homered on nine of his last 10 swings before entering extra time.
Hours before the session, Harper spoke excitedly about having his dad pitch to him in the contest. The 25-year-old said his father “worked his tail off every single day to provide for me and my family” and “now being able to have him throw to me in a big-league ballpark is the cherry on top.”
Harper advanced to the final with an astonishing spree of longball hitting. He trailed Max Muncy of the Dodgers 12-4 with 2:20 left, then peeled off six homers in 47 seconds before calling a timeout.
Harper returned to hit three more home runs in 22 seconds.
The semifinal matchup between Schwarber and Philadelphia’s Rhys Hoskins was a thriller. After stunning top seed Jesus Aguilar of Milwaukee in the opening round, the eighth-seeded Hoskins ripped 20 long balls.
Using a late surge, Schwarber pulled one ball after another over the right-field wall to squeeze out a 21-20 victory, by far the highestscoring matchup of the night.