LOS ANGELES — The stage was set for a three-Pete, but some young blood had other ideas. 

Pete Alonso’s quest for a third straight Home Run Derby title was interrupted in the semifinals by Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez, but it was Nationals star Juan Soto who reigned supreme to win the crown at Dodger Stadium. 

Soto, who was already the talk of the town before the Derby because of his uncertain future before the MLB trade deadline, crushed 19 home runs to Rodriguez’s 18 in the final. The 23-year-old showed off his smooth left-handed swing to capture the title, fending off the 21-year-old Rodriguez, who had smashed a combined 63 homers in the first two rounds to take the event by storm. 

After facing a blizzard of questions earlier in the day about a potential trade, Soto went out and focused on his craft, just as he plans to in the two weeks left until the deadline. 

“I just let my agent [Scott Boras] do whatever he needs to do,” Soto said. “All the conversations that they have, they’re going to have with him. I’m just going to be here to play baseball. I’m just going to go to Nationals Park and give my 100 percent every day.” 

Albert Pujols, the retiring 42-year-old Cardinals slugger in his final Derby, nearly turned back the clock to make a run at the title, but he was bested by Soto 16-15 in the semifinals. 

Overall, Rodriguez hit the most total home runs (81) while Soto hit the longest shot, a 482-foot blast in the first round. 

“I’m happy I won two in a row,” Alonso said. “That’s incredibly difficult and incredibly special. But for Julio to take me down, someone had to at some point. … Sometimes it’s just not good enough. I thought I put up a great performance, but J-Rod was just better tonight. He was absolutely electric.” 

Alonso fended off Braves star and No. 7 seed Ronald Acuña Jr. in the first round, 20-19, but he ran out of gas in the second round against Rodriguez. After clobbering 32 homers in the first round against the Rangers’ Corey Seager, Rodriguez mashed 31 more in the second round, with Alonso mustering only 23. 

Alonso, who won his first Derby as a rookie in 2019, was impressed by the new Derby rookie on the block. 

“To be that consistent and be that on for the whole thing, that was special,” Alonso said. “He put on an absolute display of what a Home Run Derby should be. That was spectacular.” 

Alonso, who won the event in 2019 and 2021 (it was not held during the COVID-shortened 2020 season), called back Dave Jauss to pitch him batting practice this year. Jauss, the former Mets bench coach who threw to Alonso at Coors Field in 2021, is now in the Nationals organization but agreed to throw again in exchange for pre-Derby coffee and post-Derby beer. 

Pujols pulled off an upset to close out the first round, knocking off top-seeded Kyle Schwarber with 20 home runs to Schwarber’s 19, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Both of them hit 13 home runs in regulation, forcing a one-minute swing-off in which Pujols got hot and clubbed seven homers, one more than Schwarber. 

Pujols’ fellow All-Stars had crowded around him during a break before the swing-off, honoring the future Hall of Famer. 

“It was a really special moment for him,” Soto said, “and even for ourselves to see the legend go like that.”