A weak performance from Jose Bautista and Matt Kemp carried Matt Holliday into the tiebreaker round, but he was unable to beat defending champions and league captains David Ortiz and Prince Fielder in the ensuing swing-odd, leading to his second consecutive first-round elimination with five.
Holliday, Prince Fielder, and David Ortiz ended up in a three-way swing-off tiebreaker, with each of them finishing with five home runs in regulation. Holliday, who admitted to having some confusion about the rules—he didn’t realize it was just five swings, and not five outs—finished with two, while Ortiz popped four in five chances and Fielder
Holliday has hit five home runs in the first round of all three Home Run Derbies he’s participated in. In 2007 it was enough to get him to the second round, where he finished out of finals contention with 13 total. Ortiz and Fielder have won the last two Home Run Derby crowns, Ortiz in 2010 and Fielder in 2009, in St. Louis.