ARLINGTON, Texas — In their long history, no Los Angeles Dodgers player has ever won the Home Run Derby.
Dioscar Hernandez changed Monday night.
Hernandez, 31, outlasted Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr., who survived a wall-scraping attempt on his final swing to win the final 14-13.
Hernandez signed a one-year free agent deal with the Dodgers this winter and has proven himself to be a key figure in a lineup that includes Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. A year after his friend and former teammate Wladimir Guerrero Jr. won his first derby crown, Hernandez became the Dominican Republic’s seventh.
The event’s new format, which limited the number of pitches participants could see in each round, initially did little to animate the Globe Life Field crowd of 38,578. Then came the finals, and Witt almost overcame a bad start from Hernandez, but fell perhaps a foot short.
Whitt, who grew up 20 minutes from Globe Life Field, won the high school home run derby six years ago in the All-Star Game in Washington, D.C., and will do so on Monday. In the new format, players can see a maximum of 40 pitches in three minutes, then hit as many home runs as possible before missing three in the bonus round. In the final, the time was reduced to two minutes and pitches to 27. Witt finished his final round with an 11.
He hit two home runs in bonus time, including an extra out over 425 feet. He nearly tied Hernandez on his final swing, but the ball caromed off the fence in center field, sending Hernandez to the win and the $1 million prize.
Hernandez survived a swing-off in the semifinals with Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm for the most home runs in a single round.
Bohm advanced with Witt, Hernandez and Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez. Two-time Derby champion Pete Alonso hit just 12 home runs in the first round, as did Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Texas Rangers’ hometown Adolise Garcia.
In the semifinals, Witt got off to a slow start to finish with 17 home runs, leaving a window for Ramirez to advance to the finals. He also fumbled early in his rotation and never recovered, finishing with 12 home runs and going homerless in his bonus balls.
In the other semi-final before the final moments, there was more intrigue when Hernandez beat Bohm on a swing-off after they finished their round at 14-all.
Hernandez had a swing-off on his second and third pitches. Bohm hit a single to left field on the second pitch, but his third swing landed softly in the outfield grass, sending the 31-year-old two-time All-Star to the final — and eventual, crowning home run. Derby champion.
