MLB Home Run Derby 2023 live updates: Guerrero Jr. wins, defeating Arozarena in final
READ MORE
2023 All-Star Game in Seattle
Seattle’s T-Mobile Park is the focus of the baseball world this week as MLB’s top players gather for the 2023 All-Star Game. The TNT sports staff brings you all the action.
Expand All
The 2023 MLB Home Run Derby is happening Monday night at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, beginning at 5 p.m. local time. Here’s who’s competing in this year’s event, how to watch and live updates of some of the biggest moments handpicked by The News Tribune’s sports crew.
The Home Run Derby will be televised on ESPN. Here are the first-round match-ups:
▪ No. 1 Luis Robert Jr. (White Sox) vs. No. 8 Adley Rutschman (Orioles)
▪ No. 2 Pete Alonso (Mets) vs. No. 7 Julio Rodríguez (Mariners)
▪ No. 3 Mookie Betts (Dodgers) vs. No. 6 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays)
▪ No. 4 Adolis García (Rangers) vs. No. 5 Randy Arozarena (Rays)
LIVE UPDATES
▪ Iam Tongi, an 18-year-old recent Decatur High School (Federal Way) graduate who won Season 21 of the American Idol competition, sang the national anthem prior to the Home Run Derby.
FIRST ROUND
Garcia (17) vs. Arozarena (24)
▪ Rays left fielder Arozarena, the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year and a first-time Home Run Derby participant, opened Monday evening’s competition with 24 home runs. Arozarena hit 19 home runs in regulation — including a 442-foot homer — and five more in the 30-second bonus time to eventually advance.
▪ Rangers outfielder Garcia, a two-time All-Star, crushed the furthest home run of the competition so far with a 438-foot blast in regulation. He hit 16 home runs in regulation and another in bonus time to finish with 17.
Robert Jr. (28) vs. Rutschman (27)
▪ The only switch hitter in the competition, first-time participant Rutschman tallied 21 home runs in regulation from the left side, then switched to the right side of the plate for bonus time, adding six more. Also a first-time All-Star, the Orioles catcher — who played at Sherwood High School in Oregon and Oregon State — finished with 27 home runs in the first round, including a 445-foot blast in regulation.
Gregg Bell’s analysis: Adley Rutschman just stole the early show of the Home Run Derby.
From section 125 behind the first-base dugout, the fans were standing for the 30-second bonus round Rutschman had. The crowd went bonkers when, after he hit 21 left-handed he turned around and hit six more moon shots right-handed, WAY into the left-field bullpens and stands.
The coolest part: The end. Rutschman hugged his pitcher. It was his dad. Randy Rutschman has been pitching to his son since he was a little kid. He was wearing a matching, white 35 Orioles Rutschman game jersey pitching to his boy in front of 47,000-plus screaming fans and millions more watching on national television.
Father and son hugged for more than a second when Adley’s 27-home-run show ended.
“Ever since I have grown up, he has tossed me BP,” Adley Rutschman told CBS Sports recently. “It’s one of those father-son moments that is going to be a memory of a lifetime.”
Alas, Robert Jr. hit 28 to best Rutschman and advance to the second round.
But no one will ever take that moment from father and son.
▪ The contest’s top seed, White Sox outfielder Robert Jr. advanced to the semifinals on his fourth swing of bonus time sending his 28th home run of the round to left after tying Rutschman’s total of 27 during regulation. Robert Jr.’s 470-foot homer in regulation is the longest of the first round so far.
Guerrero Jr. (26) vs. Betts (11)
▪ A three-time All-Star, Blue Jays star Guerrero Jr. tallied 26 home runs in the first round — including nine in a one-minute bonus period — to eventually advance to the semifinals. He set the record for most home runs in the competition with 91 as a rookie in 2019.
▪ Betts, a seven-time All-Star with the Red Sox and Dodgers and the 2018 AL MVP with Boston, hit 11 home runs in regulation in his first Home Run Derby appearance.
Rodriguez (41) vs. Alonso (21)
▪ The cheers from the crowd grew louder as every home run from Mariners outfielder Rodriguez cleared the fence in the first round. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year, a two-time All-Star and now two-time Home Run Derby participant sent his first swing of the first round over the fence in center, and then added 31 more home runs in regulation. He crushed nine more in one minute of bonus time to finish with a record-breaking 41 — the most in a single round in Home Run Derby history — with fans on their feet.
He ended his 60-second bonus round with an emphatic bat flip straight up into the air. He then emitted a loud road to match those of the fans around the entirety of bumpin’ T-Mobile Park.
Rodriguez’s first words after his record-setting show, on the field to ESPN television: “Oh, my God!”
▪ Mets first baseman Alonso, the 2019 NL Rookie of the Year, a three-time All-Star and two-time Home Run Derby champion, tallied 19 home runs in regulation and two more in a one-minute bonus period to finish with 21.
ATHLETES AMAZED BY THE J-ROD SHOW
After Rodriguez peppered 41 baseballs over the fence at T-Mobile Park’s Home Run Derby — the most in a single round in derby history — some of the world’s greatest athletes took notice.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II, widely regarded as the best player in the NFL, mentioned the historic display of the ’J-Rod Show’ on Twitter: “That was wild!!!”
Kevin Durant, one of the great scorers in basketball history and a former Seattle SuperSonic: “Julio Rodriguez is ridiculous.”
Mets slugger Pete Alonso, Rodriguez’s first-round opponent and a two-time derby champion, had just one word for J-Rod after the 22-year-old superstar eliminated him: “Wow.”
“Wow is right,” ESPN’s broadcast replied.
Rodriguez launched 81 total home runs in the 2022 Derby at Dodger Stadium, the most of any contestant. Monday, he was over halfway to reaching that mark in the first round alone.
SEMIFINALS
Arozarena (35) vs. Robert Jr. (22)
▪ Arozarena crushed 30 home runs in regulation in the semifinals and added five more in one minute of bonus time to eventually advance and bring his two-round total to 59 after hitting 24 in the first round.
▪ Robert Jr. followed up a 28-homer performance in the first round with 22 more in the semifinals to bring his two-round total to 50. Robert Jr.’s 484-foot home run in regulation in the semifinals is the furthest of the contest so far.
Rodriguez (20) vs. Guerrero Jr. (21)
▪ Rodriguez followed up a record-setting first round with 20 more home runs in the semifinals to bring his two-round total to a contest-leading 61.
▪ Guerrero Jr. tied Rodriguez’s total on his final swing of regulation in the semifinals, and needed only three swings in less than 15 seconds of his one-minute bonus time to advance to the final with 21 home runs. Guerrero’s two-round total is at 47 home runs.
Not a lot, but some fans packed up their bags, kids and everything else and departed the stadium for their ways home. Those were some expensive early exits. Many tickets online on secondary markets and sites for Monday’s derby exceeded $1,000 each.
FINAL
Guerrero Jr. (25) vs. Arozarena (23)
▪ Four years after setting the contest record for most total home runs as a rookie with 91 in the 2019 competition, Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a Home Run Derby champion. Guerrero Jr. opened the final with 25 home runs, and held on to the lead as Arozarena tallied 23 in the closing moments of the competition, becoming the first Blue Jays player to ever win the contest and first AL champion since New York’s Aaron Judge in 2017. The victory is also 16 years after Guerrero Jr.’s father won the Home Run Derby in 2007 with the Angels. Guerrero Jr. hit 26 home runs in the first round, 21 in the semifinals and the 25 in the final to bring his total to 72 — the fifth-most in contest history. Arozarena’s three-round total of 82 — 24 in the first round, 35 in the semifinals and 23 in the final — is the second-most behind Guerrero Jr.’s record in 2019.
This story was originally published July 10, 2023 at 5:13 PM with the headline "MLB Home Run Derby 2023 live updates: Guerrero Jr. wins, defeating Arozarena in final."
