Mancini reaches finals of Home Run Derby (updated)

Trey Mancini didn't offer any predictions Sunday afternoon about how he'd fare in the Home Run Derby. He didn't share his expectations. The euphoria of his pinch-hit, two-run homer was still fresh. So was the disappointment of a 10th-inning loss.

The derby? He was just happy to be invited.

"I'm just going to try to enjoy it," he said on his postgame Zoom call, his last swing blending nicely into tonight's competition. "It's surreal. It's something that I haven't really thought too much about since we play up to the day before.

"Now I can turn my attention to it a little bit. I'm really excited. I'm really excited for coach (Chuck) Ristano to get this opportunity and to be out there with him. It's really cool after promising him that he'd be out there with me if it ever did happen, so it's pretty cool that that's becoming a reality and we're both going to really enjoy it."

The former Notre Dame first baseman and current pitching coach teamed up again tonight at Coors Field, just as they did in the 2012 Big East competition. Mancini was pitted against the Athletics' Matt Olson in the first round, the sixth seed versus the third.

Already a sentimental favorite tonight and recipient of a warm ovation from the Coors Field crowd after missing the 2020 season while fighting Stage 3 colon cancer, Mancini made it to the finals and lost to the Mets' Pete Alonso 23-22.

Mancini totaled 59 home runs, easily the most by an Orioles player in the Home Run Derby. No one else has his story.

In defeating Olson, Mancini hit 19 home runs in the three-minute regulation round and five more in the bonus. He called time after making five straight outs, and with only two home runs hit. Teammate Cedric Mullins brought him a Gatorade, Mancini launched 22 and got hugs from the other All-Stars, including former teammate Manny Machado.

One ball traveled 496 feet. Mancini was hitting them to all fields in his typical manner.

Olson finished with 23, his last ball hooking foul as time ran out, and Mancini advanced to the semifinals.

Mancini hit a 13th home run to move past Colorado's Trevor Story and into the finals. Mancini called timeout at seven with 1:39 left, caught his breath, quenched his thirst and went back to work.

The Orioles took to Twitter to express their joy. The event had become much bigger, everyone knowing that a year ago at this time Mancini had about two more months of chemotherapy treatments.

His comeback keeps inspiring.

"It was incredible," Mancini said on ESPN. "Obviously everybody knows the story by now, but the last year and a half was something you have nightmares about. And to be here a year later and make it to the finals was incredible. I'll have to ask the final -- I knew they changed the rules to the finals and I didn't know what it was because I didn't pay too much attention to it early on in the day. I was focused on the early rounds and everything. We had a good time and it was fun to be back with Coach Ristano, so we had a great time out there.

"The Home Run Derby is different than the games, but I've never been on a stage like this before. And it was just an incredible day, incredible evening, and I was just so honored to be a part of it. And to be asked and to make it to the finals is something that I think we're going to look back on and really cherish and appreciate."

Story, the seventh seed, defeated the Rangers' Joey Gallo in the first round, 20-19, with one ball measured at 518 feet. But the amount and distances shrank against Mancini.

Alonso, with former Orioles coach Dave Jauss throwing to him, hit 35 homers in the first round and his 16th in the second pushed him past the Nationals' Juan Soto with plenty of time remaining on the clock.

Alonso ultimately was able to defend his 2019 title, hitting 17 in regulation and taking advantage of the bonus time. Every swing produced another bomb. Six pitches, six swings, competition over.

Mancini hit five homers and asked for another timeout. Machado put an arm around his shoulder to offer encouragement, and Mancini reached 17 in the three-minute round before tacking on five more for 22. More smiles, more reminders of how far he's come.

"When I went out there and saw Coach Ristano out there, it was surreal," Mancini said. "He was the pitching coach at Notre Dame what I was there and we did a Big East Home Run Derby together and won that. And at the time I promised him if I was ever in the Major League Home Run Derby, he would throw to me. It was surreal to see that become a reality from my vantage point.

"That and then seeing my family afterwards on the field, they were all just so happy and. Yeah, they were all crying, they were so happy and -- except one of any nephews was crying because he was upset that I lost, which I probably would have done at eight years old. It was a special day."

Mancini was the first Orioles participant since Mark Trumbo in 2016. This was the 17th time that an Orioles player has been involved.

Miguel Tejada won it in 2004 at Minute Maid Park in Houston and Cal Ripken Jr. in 1991 at SkyDome in Toronto.

For every home run Mancini hit tonight, Pepsi donated $250 to his foundation to benefit "Blessings in a Backpack" in the fight against childhood hunger.

The season's second half will begin with Mancini batting .256 with 16 home runs and a .791 OPS.

Top-seeded Shohei Ohtani was upset by the eighth-seeded Soto in a double tiebreaker that concluded with a three-swing round.

The top four seeds were eliminated in the first round.

"I felt pretty locked in," Mancini said. "Didn't really have too much emotion. Had adrenaline going and was focused the whole time, but I also made sure to enjoy it. I think I was pretty locked in the whole time.

"I was trying to win. If I'm in the competition, I'm in it to win it. So yeah, I'm disappointed. I would have rather won, but at the same time, how can you be upset? You know, it was just the most incredible experience, nothing that I expected to happen at all and especially having Coach Ristano here with me. The last year for both of us, one of my teammates from Notre Dame that we were both really close with passed away in October, and you know, it was a really tough time.

"So to be here nine months later and to have this experience - that was the last time I saw Coach Ristano was at the service. It was special to be here and do it for Ricky and Mo who was our fan in Baltimore, and just kind of everybody that's fighting a battle right now that you can get through it and come out the other side and live a normal life."