MLB Home Run Derby: Controversial Trey Mancini Home Run Eliminates Matt Olson

MLB Home Run Derby: Controversial Trey Mancini Home Run Eliminates Matt Olson article feature image
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Dustin Bradford/Getty Images. Pictured: Trey Mancini.

The Home Run Derby used to always be pretty relaxed in terms of enforcing the rules, but Monday night's contest at Coors Field saw some legitimate controversy early on.

Trey Mancini was the first batter to go, and he put on quite a show. Mancini had 17 home runs in his first three minutes, and he was seemingly given a swing on a pitch that was delivered with no time on the clock.

Well, according to the Home Run Derby rules, that pitch should not have counted. Mancini had already earned his extra minute because of the length of his longest home run (496 feet). He earned six more home runs in his extra minute, putting his total at 24.

It should have been 23, though, which is what Olson finished with.

An MLB official told The Action Network's Darren Rovell that the calls were made on the field by the umpire.

Here's exactly what MLB's Home Run Derby rules say:

Batters will have three minutes per round in the first and second rounds and two minutes in the final round. The clock starts with the release of the first pitch, and the round ends when the timer strikes zero. A homer will count so long as the pitch was released prior to the timer hitting zero.

In the next matchup, Trevor Story hit 20 before Joey Gallo, one of the two favorites, stepped up to the plate. Gallo started out slowly before hitting homer after homer during his extra minute.

Gallo had 19 home runs in the dying seconds of his round and hit one on a pitch that came after the buzzer expired. That one was not counted, though, unlike Mancini's.

Both Gallo and Olson were heavy favorites in their first-round matchups. Gallo was -165 to beat Story (+140), while Olson was -200 against Mancini (+165).

Olson closed at +600 to win the contest, while Mancini was +1600, the second-highest number behind Salvador Perez.

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