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Miami's Giancarlo Stanton wins Home Run Derby

 
Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins wins the Home Run Derby with 61 homers over the three rounds, shattering the record of 41 for a single night in the event.
Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins wins the Home Run Derby with 61 homers over the three rounds, shattering the record of 41 for a single night in the event.
Published July 12, 2016

SAN DIEGO — Giancarlo Stanton wore out Petco Park with a record display of power in the All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday, peppering every landmark from the leftfield corner to centerfield.

Stanton hit 20 homers in the final round to best defending champion Todd Frazier of the Chicago White Sox.

Overall, the Marlins slugger hit a record 61, shattering the single-night mark of 41 by Bobby Abreu in 2005.

"For sure being on the West Coast and taking the flight out here just for this, you know. I figure it's a waste if I don't bring this bad boy home," Stanton said, hoisting the trophy. The three-time All-Star is not on the NL roster for tonight's game.

"I had a great time. I had a blast."

Literally. His longest shot was estimated at 497 feet. He hit the eight longest homers of the competition and 20 of the 21 deepest drives.

Stanton — who has the longest homer in the majors this season at 490 feet on May 6 against the Phillies, according to hittrackeronline.com — beat Seattle's Robinson Cano 24-7 in the first round, then edged top seed Mark Trumbo of the Orioles 17-14 in the semifinals.

Frazier won the title last year when he was with the Reds. He beat Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez 13-12 in the first round and Cincinnati's Adam Duvall 16-15 in the semis. Also in the first round, Trumbo beat Corey Seager of the Dodgers 16-15 and Duvall beat San Diego's Wil Myers, a former Ray, 11-10.

Home, more or less: Myers and Drew Pomeranz of the Padres will be in their comfort zone for tonight's game. Well, for the most part. Because the National League is hosting in four straight years, the American League gets to wear white uniforms and bat last. And that means San Diego's players had to vacate their own clubhouse and move to the visitors' locker room on the third-base side. It has been a crazy several weeks for Myers, the former Rays slugger. He was named an All-Star ambassador, then played his way into All-Star consideration by hitting 11 home runs in June. He was named to the NL team, then for the Home Run Derby.

Starters: LHP Chris Sale of the White Sox will start for the AL tonight and RHP Johnny Cueto of the Giants will start for the NL. Sale, 27, is 14-3 with a 3.38 ERA and leads the majors in wins. He has 123 strikeouts and just 26 walks in 125 innings, and batters are hitting .225 against him. Cueto, 30, who left Kansas City last offseason, tops NL pitchers in victories. He is 13-1 with a 2.47 ERA, striking out 115 in 1311/3 innings.

Bad habit dropped: Sale paid tribute to late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, saying he quit chewing tobacco when the Padres great died of salivary gland cancer in June 2014 at age 54. "I chewed tobacco from 2007 until the day he passed away. I remember seeing that, and just being so shocked," Sale said. "I quit that day, and I haven't touched it since," adding, "I owe him a huge thank you for not only myself but for my family." A 15-time All-Star, Gwynn spent his entire big league career with his hometown Padres, hitting .338 with 3,141 hits from 1982-01.

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