Rockies shortstop Trevor Story blasts 1 of his 33 Homers during the 2021 Home Run Derby at Coors Field (Photo: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images
In front of a packed house at Coors Field, some of Major League Baseball's biggest sluggers put on a show in the Mile High City. Defending Champ, Pete Alonso of the Mets, showed why he was, the defending champ, by winning his 2nd straight derby, after taking the 2019 crown in Cleveland.
The Mets hard-hitting 1st Baseman outhit Orioles 1st Baseman, Trey Mancini, 23-22 in the Finals. That came after the cancer survivor, Mancini, survived Rockies 2-time All-Star shortstop Trevor Story in the 2nd round.
"We talked about that a little," Story said of Mancini who fought his way back from Stage 3 Colon Cancer "yeah, it's incredible man, just so much respect for him, obviously his story is amazing," Story said. "His resiliency. I got to talk to him a little bit about that. Just what he's doing is really inspiring, I couldn't pick a better guy to fall to.
Story came into the derby as an underdog in the opening round. In fact, he was seeded 7th out of 8 competitors. But in the 1st round, he his 20 homers to Rangers Slugger Joey Gallo's 18. In the 2nd though was when he fell to Mancini, 13-12.
"I felt like I got through the 1st round pretty nicely...you're pretty tired, no doubt, there's no getting around that. The thin air, just kind of everything that goes into it, you're pretty tire d.
The Rox shortstop hit a home run 518-feet which was the farthest ball hit for most of the night, and certainly the farthest that Story had ever hit in his career.
Alonso had the most impressive opening round as well, posting 35 bombs to get things started, surpassing Vladamir Guerrero Jr.'s 29 HR mark from 2019. But the most impressive moment came in the final showdown of the 1st round when the MLB Home Run Leader Shoehei Ohtani, who's also the starting pitcher for the American League in tomorrow's All-Star Game and Nationals 22-year-old superstar Juan Soto went to not 1, but 2 tiebreakers to determine a winner that would see Soto ultimately prevail.
You can see the 2 tiebreakers after watching Ohtani's entire 1st round below.