HOME RUN DERBY
The Nationals’ Bryce Harper reacts to his winning homer during Monday night’s All-Star Home Run Derby in Washington. Harper beat Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs 19-18 in the final.
With an exceptional display of power and clutch hitting, hometown hero Bryce Harper rallied in the final round of the All-Star Home Run Derby, connecting on pitches from his father to beat Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs 19-18 on Monday night.
Harper hit the contest-winning blast in extra time, the reward for hitting two homers at least 440 feet during the 4 minutes of regulation. After he connected with the game winner, the Nationals star immediately went into celebration mode.
“We have some of the best fans in all of baseball, and to be able to that with my family out there, that’s an incredible moment, not only for me but for the organization and the Nationals fans,” Harper said.
Harper’s teammate, Max Scherzer, the NL starter on Tuesday night, also appreciated the moment.
“It’s awesome. Hometown,” Scherzer said. “The crowd is behind him. He found some rhythm, kept it simple and just continued to hit home run after home run.”
Wearing a headband that resembled the District of Columbia flag and displaying a right sleeve with stars and stripes, Harper trailed 18-9 with 1:20 left before rallying. He homered on nine of his last 10 swings before entering extra time.
The six-time All-Star arranged to have his dad, Ron, pitch to him in the annual contest on the eve of the AllStar Game. That made the victory even sweeter.
“I’m only as good as my BP guy,” Harper said with a grin.
It’s been a tough year for Harper, who’s hitting only .214 for the disappointing Nationals. He won a contest that many sluggers avoid, fearful it might wear them out and throw them off.
He can only hope this helps him get back into the swing.
The 2015 NL MVP beat
Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves and Max Muncy of the Dodgers before trumping the fifth-seeded Schwarber, who put the pressure on with a solid outing before Harper stepped to the plate.
“As soon as I got done with that round I told myself that (Harper) had it,” Schwarber said. “I knew that he had the home crowd behind him.”
Harper, who has 23 home runs this season, 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 last of them inside the right-field foul pole.
The semifinal matchup between Schwarber and Philadelphia’s Rhys Hoskins went down to the final swing. After stunning top-seed Jesus Aguilar of Milwaukee in the opening round, the eighthseeded Hoskins ripped 20 long balls to put the pressure
on Schwarber.
The most thrilling firstround match featured a near buzzer-beater by Houston’s Alex Bregman, who fell to Schwarber 16-15. The difference was the pair of homers that Schwarber hit during 30 seconds of extra time. Bregman lost when his final swing produced a drive that landed at the base of the center-field wall.
Javier Baez of the Cubs hit the longest shot of the Derby, a 479-footer.
THIRD-TIME STARTERS >> The Nationals’ Scherzer and Boston’s Chris Sale are both making their third All-Star starts, joining 13 other pitchers with that distinction.
Sale is starting for the third consecutive time and is the third player to do that, following Lefty Gomez and Robin Roberts.
Each pitcher made his first All-Star start with a different team — Sale for the White Sox and Scherzer for the Tigers — and has now gotten the nod in back-to-back years. It’s the first time the same set of pitchers started the game two
years in a row since 1939 and 1940; Paul Derringer and Red Ruffing.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom will follow Scherzer for the NL. Roberts says he picked Scherzer to start over deGrom because the game is at Scherzer’s home ballpark in Washington.
Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch says the New York Yankees’ Luis Severino will come in after Sale, followed by the Tampa Bay Rays’ Blake Snell.
METS’ MOVE >> DeGrom says he’d love to play his entire career with the New York Mets, but he’s not disputing comments by his agent that the team should either sign him to a long-term deal or trade him now.
The All-Star right-hander said Monday that his future with the team “is kind of in the Mets’ control and kind of out of mine.” He says he has not talked numbers with the Mets on a long-term contract but would be open to those discussions.