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Phillies' Alec ...

Get geared-up for the game

THE JAWN STORE

Trea Turner, Harper, and Bohm will start Tuesday night for the National League and bat third, fourth, and seventh, respectively. It will mark the first time the Phillies will have three starting All-Star infielders since 1982, when Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, and Manny Trillo started in Montreal.

Bohm entered the All-Star break with 11 homers, the fewest of the Derby contestants, and therefore led off the first round before 38,578 patrons under the closed roof at Globe Life Field.

His strategy: “Swing at everything, and pull it.”

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Sure enough, all of Bohm’s 21 first-round dingers carried out to left field or left-center. Facing Scott Wingo, an assistant coach at Manhattan College who threw to him in a collegiate home-run derby in 2016, he started slowly, with one homer on seven pitches. But Bohm got into a groove and going deep on 10 of his final 12 swings and bringing Harper to his feet.

And then, the wait began.

Bohm kicked back and relaxed with the rest of the Phillies’ contingent: Harper, Turner, and pitchers Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, and Cristopher Sánchez, and their families. The other seven hitters took their turns. At the end of the first round, Bohm was tied atop the leader board with Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez.

More than an hour elapsed between swings on the field for Bohm, who rallied again late and tied it on his second-to-last swing. He launched a ball foul on his final swing to force the swing-off, won by Hernández by a 2-1 margin.

Alec Bohm got caught on candid camera again.

This time, the Phillies third baseman was seated on the turf near the National League dugout halfway through the first round of an All-Star Home Run Derby that few gave him a chance to win when he clinched a spot in the semifinals.

“How ‘bout that?,” Bohm said. “Just like everybody thought.”

Zing.

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At least he didn’t say he hated this place.

But Bohm did better than merely move on in the Texas homer showdown on the eve of the 94th All-Star Game. He went to a swing-off with Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández before bowing out, 16-15.

Bohm left the ballpark before the clubhouses opened to reporters.

Hernández defeated Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. by a whisker in the finals, 14-13. Witt, who grew up in nearby Colleyville, Texas, while his father pitched for the Rangers, hit a ball to the warning track in center field on his final swing.

Otherwise, there weren’t many signature highlights from a Derby that lacked transcendent power performances that fans will talk about for years. But Bohm, with an assist to Bryce Harper, provided one of the few picture postcards.

Before games, Bohm often carries around a jug of water, from the field to the batting cage and the training room. It helps him stay hydrated. In the middle of his 21-homer first round, he asked for time.

Cue Harper, who carried over a jug for Bohm that was labeled “Wooder.”