Oakland Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes successfully defended his Home Run Derby title, outslugging Cincinnati third baseman Todd Frazier 9-1 in the final round on Monday night in Minnesota.
Cespedes is the first repeat winner since Ken Griffey Jr. managed the feat in 1998-99.
Toronto Blue Jays right-fielder Jose Bautista didn't go down without a fight at Target Field on Monday.
After topping the 10-player field with 10 home runs in the first round, the American League Derby captain gained a bye to Round 3 (semifinals) but dropped a 7-4 decision to Cespedes.
With the bye, Bautista went one hour 54 minutes between swings and it appeared he needed two or three outs of the seven permitted to each hitter to regain his home run stroke.
In the first round, the Blue Jays slugger outhomered the trio that hit before him – Minnesota's Brian Dozier (two), Frazier and National League captain Troy Tulowitzki of Colorado (four).
Bautista racked up four home runs before recording his second out and had eight prior to his fifth out.
After the eighth long ball, AL all-star second baseman Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners paid a visit to Bautista at the plate and afforded him a breather by handing him a bottle of Gatorade.
During one stretch, Bautista homered in four consecutive swings and seven of eight.
On Target
In his career, Bautista has 11 home runs in 59 at-bats at Target Field, the most by any visiting player. That's only one less than Twins cornerstone Joe Mauer, who has played 284 career games at Target Field.
Meanwhile Cespedes, with a serious, determined look on his face the whole time, finished with 28 homers, four fewer than last year, when he beat Washington's Bryce Harper 9-8 in the final round.
"I'm somebody who's very conscious of the power that I have," said Cespedes. "So I don't need to put more of a swing or more of an effort in order to hit a home run. I just have to look for a good pitch and put a good swing on it, and it usually takes care of it."
Cespedes saved his best for last, a 452-foot blast to the third deck above left field that officially measured as the longest of the night.
Athletics third base coach Mike Gallego again pitched to Cespedes, who went deep 32 times in last year's derby at Citi Field in New York. Gallego's arm looked nearly out of gas by the final round, which started after 10:30 p.m. local time.
Bautista and Miami outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, whom Frazier eliminated in the semifinals, each earned a bye to the semifinals under the new bracketed format, which gave each player seven outs and pitted the survivors from each side in the final round. Stanton went deep six times in Round 1.
That was all, though.
After a long wait for his next turn, Stanton put up a zero in the semifinals and let Frazier advance with only one.
Oh, but Stanton's six were beauties.
One landed in the third deck above left field, about a half-dozen rows shy of the very top of the ballpark. Another reached the second deck above the centre field batter's eye, a place never touched by a ball during an actual game here. Stanton has been credited with three of the 15 longest home runs in the majors this year, including the second-farthest at 484 feet.
2nd-round cakewalk
Cespedes, who beat Athletics teammate Josh Donaldson in a tiebreaker after each finished with three in the first round, breezed by Baltimore's Adam Jones in the second round. Frazier topped NL captain Troy Tulowitzki on the other side.
Colorado's Justin Morneau, the fan favourite after 10-plus years and four all-star games for the host Twins, was eliminated in the first round.
The native of New Westminster B.C., returned to his roots, and so did the event itself, considering the inaugural contest was held at the Metrodome before the 1985 all-star game. Admission then was a mere $2, slightly less than the $200-and-up price tags on the derby these days. The original form was actually a 1960s-era television show, featuring sluggers like Harmon Killebrew of the Twins.
A rainbow formed behind Target Field in Minnesota during Monday night's Home Run Derby. Rain delayed the start of the all-star event by 54 minutes. (Brian Mark Peterson/The Star Tribune/Associated Press)
Delayed 54 minutes by light rain on an unseasonably cool night, even for Minnesota, with a start-time temperature of 59 degrees, the contest began with a rainbow protruding from the clouds beyond left-centre field that framed this limestone-encased ballpark that opened in 2010.
Frazier went first, and while he went deep twice, he didn't quite reach the rainbow. Neither did Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, the smallest of the participants who had the backing of the crowd with chants of his last name during his two-homer round.
"Even my brother he said he got chills," said Dozier, one of seven first-time participants. His brother, Clay, was his pitcher.
The loudest roars were for Morneau, naturally, in his return to the place he called home until being traded last summer. An easy pick for Tulowitzki, Morneau checked the weather forecast as soon as he woke up to gauge the wind direction. The only left-hander in the event his year, Morneau's third derby appearance brought the fans to their feet with AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" blaring in the background.
He hit two in the first round, the only balls all night that landed in the seats in right. Frazier hit one more to beat Morneau and advance in the three-swing tiebreaker.
The only player shut out? Dodgers sparkplug Yasiel Puig. He was the first homerless participant since Robinson Cano two years ago in Kansas City. Other zeroes in the 2000s: Brandon Inge, Bret Boone and Canada's Jason Bay.
Recent Home Run Derby champions
| Year | Player | Team |
| 2014 | Yoenis Cespedes | Oakland |
| 2013 | Yoenis Cespedes | Oakland |
| 2012 | Prince Fielder | Detroit |
| 2011 | Robinson Cano | NY Yankees |
| 2010 | David Ortiz | Boston |
| 2009 | Prince Fielder | Milwaukee |
| 2008 | Justin Morneau | Minnesota |
| 2007 | Vladimir Guerrero | L.A. Angels |
| 2006 | Ryan Howard | Philadelphia |
| 2005 | Bobby Abreu | Philadelphia |
| 2004 | Miguel Tejada | Baltimore |
| 2003 | Garret Anderson | Anaheim |
| 2002 | Jason Giambi | NY Yankees |
| 2001 | Luis Gonzalez | Arizona |
| 2000 | Sammy Sosa | Chicago Cubs |
| 1999 | Ken Griffey Jr. | Seattle |
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