MLB: Judge wins Home Run Derby.
MIAMI - Aaron Judge dominated the Home Run Derby in the same manner he has smashed his way through his rookie season.
The larger-than-life New York Yankees slugger beat Minnesota’s Miguel Sosa, 11-10, with two minutes to spare in the final Monday night, reaching 513 feet and displaying remarkable power to all fields.
Judge, 6-foot-7 and 282 pounds, sprayed balls of the glass behind left field that supports the Marlins Park retractable roof, hit one over the Red Grooms home run sculpture in left-center, over the batter’s eye in straightaway center and, unusually for a derby, to the opposite field, too. He also hit the roof near a light bank in left, 160 feet above the field. That drive didn’t count.
Hitting second each time, Judge knocked out Miami’s Justin Bour, 2322, in the first round and beat Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger, 1312, in the second. Then, with lightning visible behind the huge glass door, he hit a 458-foot drive to center for the title.
Judge leads the major league with 30 home runs and some Yankees fans showed up to support him in their full dress — flowing black robes and white powdered wigs. Booed initially by the crowd of 37,027, Judge earned their cheers once defending champion Giancarlo
Stanton of the Marlins was eliminated in the first round.
Judge’s display of power started in batting practice when he hit a ball off the retractable roof. Toeing the slab: Chris
Sale will become the first pitcher to make consecutive all-star starts representing different teams.
The Boston Red Sox ace will start Tuesday night’s game for the American League, and Washington’s Max Scherzer will open for the National League.
Then with the Chicago White Sox, Sale pitched the first inning of last year’s game at San Diego and allowed a two-out home run to Kris Bryant. Sale was traded in December for top prospects.
Sale will be the 16th pitcher to make consecutive all-star starts, the first since Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2000-’01 and the first in the AL since Toronto’s Dave
Stieb in 1983-’84. Born in Lakeland, which is about 240 miles northwest of Miami, Sale is 11-4 with a 2.75 ERA and a major league-leading 178 strikeouts in 1272⁄3 innings.
“All my family lives here. Brothers, sisters, inlaws, parents, even my aunts and uncles and cousins,” Sale said. “So to be able to be here not too far from where I live now is nice. I can have my family, extended family come down and experience this with me.”
Scherzer also will be making his second all-star start. Then with Detroit, he pitched a perfect inning at New York’s Citi Field in 2013, when Sale followed with a pair of 12-3 innings and got the win. Scherzer will be the fifth pitcher to start allstar games for both leagues, following Vida Blue, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Johnson. Scherzer is 10-5 with a 2.10 ERA and 173 strikeouts.