CLEVELAND -- Pete Alonso took one final swing and flipped his bat high in the air. Another walk-off.
As the crowd roared, the New York Mets rookie headed toward the mound and tightly squeezed his cousin and pitcher Derek Morgan, who had helped him win the All-Star Home Run Derby and $1 million.
Alonso outlasted fellow rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the final round Monday night to take home a prize that nearly doubled his 2019 salary.
With several seconds to spare, Alonso connected for a home run to left-center to edge Guerrero 23-22 after the Blue Jays' powerhouse put on a historical display by hitting 91 home runs total before he ran out of gas after an epic semifinal matchup against Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson.
"There's so many guys that just put on a show, like Joc, he was amazing, Vladdy, they did such a good job," Alonso said. "Everybody put on a show. To me, it didn't really seem like the jitters were there, because everyone was awesome. I mean everyone was showing their stuff."
After his last home run cleared the wall, Alonso was swarmed by the NL All-Stars who along with a crowd of 36,119 fans were treated to a power display unlike any in the event's history.
"This was surreal," Alonso said.
Alonso is the second rookie to win outright, following Yankees star Aaron Judge in 2017. He's also the first Mets player to win the derby since Darryl Strawberry shared the title with Wally Joyner in 1986.
Alonso, making the major-league minimum of $555,000 this season, has hit 30 home runs. The first baseman will showcase his swing again in tonight's All-Star Game as baseball continues this season of the long ball.
And he'll also give 10% of his prize money to charity -- 5% each to the Wounded Warrior Project and to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
"I've been living a fantasy," Alonso said. "And I just want to use my platform as almost kind of just reach out to people and just make people aware of these causes. And I hope that other people could find the kindness in their hearts."
He showed some dramatic flair with two nail-biting wins to reach the final against Guerrero. He nipped Cleveland's Carlos Santana 14-13 in the first round and Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr. 20-19 in the second to set up a showdown with the 20-year-old Guerrero, whose Hall of Fame father won the event in 2007.
Guerrero figured to be a force, but there was no way of predicting he'd hit 91 home runs -- 74 more than his dad's entire total 12 years ago.
After the event, Guerrero slowly walked to his chair in the clubhouse and sat down.
"I was kind of scared he was going to beat me because he was hitting second," Guerrero said through a translator. "It was back-and-forth and back-and forth. It was really tiring."
His hands blistered, Guerrero more than equaled his season's salary of $468,468. He got $500,000 for finishing second, plus a $100,000 bonus for hitting the longest home run.
"I gave all I had. I'm proud I hit 91 home runs," he said.
Guerrero defeated Pederson in a semifinal that required three extra swings and will go down in derby lore.
They were tied 29-29 after their four-minute round and then again after a 60-second session. Guerrero and Pederson then each homered once when given three swings, forcing another best-of-three round.
Guerrero hit two, screaming at his second shot, which barely cleared the 19-foot high wall in left.
Pederson couldn't match up, hitting a grounder on his final cut before both players shared an exhausted embrace near home plate as the fellow All-Stars stood and applauded like regular fans.
Sports on 07/09/2019