2016 MLB Futures Games results: Yoan Moncada home run gives World a comeback win

Jul 11, 2016, 2:15 AM UTC

Denis Poroy/Getty Images

Boston Red Sox infielder Yoan Moncada, arguably the top prospect in baseball, led the World team to an 11-3 comeback victory over the U.S. team in the 2016 MLB Futures Game on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park in San Diego.

Moncada was given the Larry Doby Award as the game’s MVP after hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning to lead the winning effort. The U.S. had won the previous six Futures Games before the World’s team victory.

Moncada, named the No. 1 prospect in Baseball America's midseason top 100 rankings this week, took Diamondbacks pitcher Anthony Banda deep into the left field seats to turn a 3-2 deficit into a one-run lead.

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The switch-hitting Moncada, signed out of Cuba to a $31.5 million bonus by the Red Sox before the 2015 season, was 2-for-5 with a stolen base in the game.

The World team added seven runs in the top of the ninth to blow the game open.

Houston Astros shortstop Alex Bregman had three hits and was in line for game MVP honors until Moncada's blast. Bregman tripled in the first inning, doubled and scored in the third inning, and singled in the fourth inning. He started at third base, then moved to shortstop.

Bregman, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, popped out in the seventh inning when in need of a home run to get a cycle, then joked on microphone during the MLB Network broadcast, “That was about as close as it gets to leaving the yard.”

The other highlights of the game were a trio of defensive gems. In the sixth inning, Colorado Rockies outfielder David Dahl threw out Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Josh Naylor at the plate to, at the time, keep the World down by a run.

Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, San Diego Padres center fielder Manuel Margot jumped over the wall to rob St. Louis Cardinals catcher Carson Kelly of a home run.

.@Padres top prospect Manuel Margot is already patrolling that outfield like a stud: https://t.co/bx6nz3XCMl https://t.co/1JNb5lwIg0
— MLB (@MLB) July 11, 2016

But the play of the game might have come in the top of the eighth inning, a tremendous leaping catch high over the right field wall in foul territory by Chicago Cubs outfielder Eloy Jimenez. That play ended the inning, setting up Moncada in the bottom of the frame.