Manny Machado looked like he was positioned well to advance in Monday night's All-Star Home Run Derby, but rookie Joc Pederson clearly had other ideas.
Machado jacked 12 homers in his four-minute round and bonus time, which was pretty impressive, but the ball can get out of Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park in a hurry and Pederson hit 13 in just two minutes and 55 seconds in his first try.
Not surprisingly, the new Derby format is a lot more entertaining than the old one, which could drag on since it advantaged players to wait for the perfect batting practice pitch to swing. With the clock running, there is every reason to swing at every pitch, so the competition moves at a much more entertaining pace.
Chances are, it wasn't the last time we'll see Machado taking part in the pre-All-Star festivities. He's just getting his legs under him after those two serious knee injuries and his power has begun to make itself known. He's got 19 regular-season homers and is tied with Chris Davis for the club lead at the break. Who, really, would have predicted that?
All of the Orioles All-Stars seemed to be having a great time on Monday night. Darren O'Day and Zach Britton appeared on the MLB Network pre-Derby show and Adam Jones seemed to be bouncing around everywhere. He even brought some Machado's Salsa out to Manny during his mid-round timeout.