The downpour postponement kept up for one hour Monday night, and after that the Home Run Derby began at Target Field, as a superb rainbow framed over the Minneapolis horizon.
The stage was set. The stands were stuffed. And after that … little else breathtaking emerged until Oakland slugger Yoenis Cespedes discovered his section late to secure his second continuous derby crown.
Cespedes clobbered Cincinnati's Todd Frazier 9-1 in the finals to turn into the first consecutive derby champion since Ken Griffey Jr., in 1998-99.
The declared swarm of 40,558 saw Jose Bautista hit 10 grand slams to lead the American League after one round. Giancarlo Stanton hit six to lead the National League, including one to the highest point of Section 330 that ESPN anticipated at 510 feet.
Nearby fans were frustrated to see Brian Dozier and Justin Morneau both make first-adjust retreats. Both got energizing applauses when they came up to hit, just to see their bats look waterlogged.
"The downpour most likely influenced us," Cespedes said through an interpreter. "The thing is, every one of us were prepared to go, and the greater part of a sudden it began to rain, so we needed to chill our bodies off and get prepared once more."
Dozier batted first for the American League and completed with two grand slams.
Morneau, who batted keep going for the National League, likewise hit two grand slams and ended up in a sudden death round with Frazier. That gave the fans an alternate opportunity to stand up, however every hitter got three swings, and Frazier disposed of Morneau 1-0.
Those weren't the main buzz executes.
Yasiel Puig, considered one of the occasion's greater draws, tabbed Robinson Cano's father to pitch to him, however completed much the same as Cano did in 2012 — with zero grand slams.
The hitters were constrained to seven outs for every round, down from 10 in past years.
Stanton hit three jaw-dropping grand slams in the first adjust, including a ball that settled into the seats over the inside field's hitter's eye. In the new section form, Stanton got a bye into Round 3.
Frazier moved beyond Troy Tulowitzki in Round 2 and oversaw only one homer in Round 3. It appeared as though Stanton would go to the plate, swat two fast grand slams and get some rest for the finals.
Rather, with Miami director and previous Twins catcher Mike Redmond pitching, Stanton continued to post an enormous fat zero and Frazier propelled to the finals with a Kershaw-esque 1-0 triumph.
In the AL elimination round, Bautista, in the wake of getting a bye, couldn't keep his first-adjust energy and fell 7-4 to Cespdes.
"The change in the configuration without a doubt influenced a few players," Cespedes said. "Also I think it was troublesome for individuals like Bautista and Stanton on the grounds that they needed to hold up such a great amount of in the middle."
That left the stage to Cespedes, who a year ago at Citi Field in New York hit 17 first-adjust grand slams before edging Bryce Harper 9-8 in the finals.
This time, Cespedes oversaw only three first-adjust homers. He would have been skiped were it not for Dozier's two grand slams and A's fellow team member Josh Donaldson just hitting three.
Donaldson went first in the swing-off, hitting one homer in three swings. Cespedes hit two snappy homers in two swings to development.
In Round 2, Cespedes pulverized Baltimore's Adam Jones 9-3 preceding overturning Bautista.
In the last against Frazier, no less than six of Cespedes' nine last adjust homers went into the second deck and one made it into the third deck. As per ESPN, he had hits in that succession that voyaged 504 and 509 feet.
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