PHILADELPHIA — The purpose of the Home Run Derby is to hit home runs.
At Citizens Bank Park on Monday night, however, that was also the quickest way to get booed — unless your name was Kyle Schwarber or Bryce Harper.
Ground balls generated cheers. Popups drew roars. When an opposing hitter failed to clear the fence, 43,863 fans celebrated as if a Phillies pitcher had escaped a bases-loaded jam in October.
For the Seinfeld devotees in attendance, it felt a little like Bizarro World: failure was celebrated, success was jeered and the competitors received louder ovations for making outs than hitting baseballs into the seats.
Willson Contreras heard it during his semifinal matchup against Schwarber. Jordan Walker heard it during the championship round.
Walker heard the boos when he homered. He heard the cheers when he did not.
Eventually, he heard silence.
The St. Louis Cardinals slugger erased Schwarber’s 11-homer total by going deep on his final six swings, winning the Home Run Derby, 12-11, and preventing Philadelphia from celebrating a hometown champion.
Schwarber had hit 11 home runs during his 15-swing turn, leaving Walker with almost no room for error. Walker hit his seventh homer with two swings remaining and another on his final scheduled swing, allowing him to continue under the Derby’s new rules. Needing four consecutive homers to win, he hit all four.
The decisive shot cleared the left-field wall as fireworks erupted around the ballpark. Walker became the first Cardinals player to win the Derby and did it while making his first All-Star appearance.
“I was once told you don’t boo nobodies,” Walker said afterward. “So it feels pretty good.”
It was an extraordinary finish to an evening Philadelphia had spent attempting to bend in Schwarber’s direction.
Harper, the 2018 Derby champion, was eliminated after hitting eight home runs in the opening round. Schwarber advanced and defeated Contreras in the semifinals, while Walker moved past Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero to reach the championship round.
Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh watched from the field as the crowd tried to will Schwarber toward the trophy.
“It was special,” Marsh said. “It was a moment that I’m going to remember forever, and I wasn’t even a part of it. I was just a bystander, and I was lucky to be there.”
When Schwarber finished with 11, Marsh believed his teammate had given himself a real chance.
“Eleven out of 15 is pretty good,” Marsh said. “You like your chances.”
Harper had the same feeling.
The Phillies first baseman embraced the spectacle from the moment famed ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced him. Harper climbed onto the platform surrounding home plate, grabbed the ropes and played to the crowd like the professional wrestling stars he watched growing up.
“I watched wrestling growing up,” Harper said. “Sting was one of my favorites, so I felt like Kevin Nash in that situation a little bit.”
Harper and Schwarber wanted to deliver a trophy to Philadelphia. Instead, Harper could only admire the way Walker handled one of the most hostile environments the Derby has produced.
“He stepped up and kept his composure,” Harper said. “You tip your cap. He earned it.”
Schwarber admitted the crowd’s energy was almost overwhelming when his first round began.
“It was hard to tame it,” Schwarber said. “I was way too amped up. I could feel it from the first pitch, and I was just trying to go get it. I had to slow myself down a little bit.”
The fans did not hide their preference.
“The hometown cooking is real here,” Schwarber said. “This is Philadelphia. They want their guys to go out there and do it, and they’re going to try to get the other guys not to.”
For several minutes, it appeared that strategy might work.
Schwarber watched Walker reach the point where he needed four consecutive home runs. The crowd grew louder after every swing, roaring for anything that stayed inside the ballpark.
Walker never lost control of the moment.
“All of our fans were roaring and trying to will me to it,” Schwarber said. “He was able to slow it down, get those swings off and you tip your cap to him. He did a great job.”
The loss gave Schwarber his second runner-up finish. He also reached the final in 2018, when Harper rallied to beat him at Nationals Park.
“I got walked off twice now,” Schwarber said with a laugh. “But it was a great time. I put it all out there. I thought I put myself in a pretty good position, but he was able to figure out a way to get it done.”
Philadelphia did everything it could from the stands. The fans booed Walker, cheered his misses and attempted to push every one of his final drives back onto the warning track.
None of it worked.
On a night when the loudest cheers often followed ground balls and popups, Walker finally restored the Home Run Derby’s normal order.
He hit home runs.
And the last one made Philadelphia quiet.
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