LOS ANGELES — If Kyle Schwarber lost his first-round matchup in the home run derby because of a counting error, well, it was news to him.Shortly after Schwarber bowed, quite literally, to Albert Pujols by a 20-19 margin after a tiebreaking swing-off Monday night at Dodger Stadium, social media buzzed with clips that appeared to show the derby scorekeepers, who are appointed by Major League Baseball, fail to credit the Phillies left fielder with an 18th home run on his third-to-last swing.
It also was premature. Not only did Pujols have 30 seconds of bonus time, in which he hit three more homers, but Schwarber had a poor round and finished with 13 homers. Pujols added seven homers in the one-minute swing-off before Schwarber hit six — or at least that’s how many were credited to him. Pujols lost in the second round to Washington Nationals star Juan Soto, who defeated impressive Seattle Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez in the final round.A year ago, the Chicago Cubs shipped out 2016 World Series heroes Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Báez in a trade deadline purge that began a full-scale rebuild.Happ, a 27-year-old outfielder, is eligible for free agency after next season.