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Note: This article originally appeared in the baiduhai on July 14, 2015

The Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant stepped into the baseball spotlight Monday night, but they weren’t there for long.

Both were eliminated in the first round of the All-Star Home Run Derby at Great American Ball Park. The Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson beat Rizzo 9-8 and the Angels’ Albert Pujols knocked out Bryant 10-9.

“It was a cool format,” Bryant said. “I was tired. I realized you have to swing at every pitch.”

With his father, Mike, throwing to him, the Cubs rookie hit eight homers in regulation and added one during his 30 seconds of bonus time.

Pujols, 35, started off slowly. He had just three with 2:23 left. After a timeout, Pujols hit seven to eliminate Bryantwith the winning home run on his last swing in regulation.

“There were a lot of buzzer-beaters with this format,” Bryant said. “Pujols beat me on a buzzer-beater. It was all a blur to me, but I had a great time. There were a lot of smiles and it was a great time with my dad.”

Hometown All-Star Todd Frazier of the Reds won the event, outslugging Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson 15-14 in the final round in the first year of a bracket format. Red-clad fans chanted Frazier’s name and cheered his every homer throughout the night.

The new format had four-minute rounds with one timeout. If a player hit two home runs of 425 feet or farther, they received a 30-second bonus.

Rizzo thought he would sit back and watch to develop his strategy in his first Home Run Derby, but unfortunately for him he was chosen to lead off the event.

“I hope my adrenaline doesn’t get the best of me,” Rizzo said beforehand. “With it being timed this year you can swing at every pitch and not worry about rolling one over.”

Rizzo said he was in a competition like this just once before, in high school, “and it haunts me,” he said beforehand. “I put up a goose egg.”

Rizzo hit some bombs foul early and still had no homers with three minutes to go. He called a timeout to regroup, then went to work. He hit his first homer with his 11th swing.

He hit seven in his last three minutes, including two over 425 feet to earn another 30 seconds. He added his eighth with the extra time and missed his ninth with a blast that fell three feet short of the 404-foot mark in straightaway center.

“It was awesome,” Rizzo said. “I enjoyed it. I didn’t throw up a goose egg. I was drained after, but it was a good experience.”

Rizzo’s opponent, Donaldson, started out hot. Donaldson, who predicted that Bryant would win, hit home runs on six consecutive swings and had seven home runs with 1:53 left when he took a timeout. He tied Rizzo with a 1:43 to go and went ahead with 14 seconds left.

The Cubs duo was the 15th pair of teammates to participate in the event. Last year featured two pairs of teammates: Yoenis Cespedes and Donaldson of the Athletics and Justin Morneau and Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies.

Frazier joined the Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg for home-field homer titles — the Hall of Fame second baseman did it at Wrigley Field in 1990. After finishing second last year in Minneapolis, this one was sweet for Frazier.

“That pushed me a lot,” Frazier said. “I wanted to get back here. I’d been working in the offseason a little bit. I’m just glad it was in Cincinnati and they could enjoy it with me.”

Gary Schatz is a freelance reporter.