Matt Kemp bows out in derby’s first round, Mark Trumbo advances

Hey, at least Matt Kemp didn’t aggravate his hamstring.

Otherwise, Kemp looked a lot like someone who hasn’t played a major league game since May during Monday’s All-Star Home Run Derby at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

While the Angels’ Mark Trumbo was advancing to the semifinals with seven homers, Kemp hit only … one. Last year he hit two.

Doubt the Dodgers were too upset that Kemp, on the disabled list with a strained hamstring, was eliminated in the first round. Kemp, scheduled to be activated Friday when the Dodgers resume the second half of the season, looked a bit embarrassed at his performance.

Kemp was elected to start in Tuesday’s All-Star game but will not play because of the hamstring. At least he could blame his disappointing performance Monday on being a tad rusty.

Trumbo went fourth of the eight hitters and looked a tad tight early on. Guess there is some difference between the contest here and in the Texas League.

But Trumbo calmed down and racked up seven homers. And he wasn’t exactly shortchanged on any of them. His seven homers averaged 426 feet, including a line drive off the brick wall beyond center and a drive that went off a roof beyond right field.

Also advancing to the semifinals were Toronto’s Juan Bautista with a first-round high of 11, St. Louis’ Carlos Beltran with seven and Detroit’s Prince Fielder, who snuck in with five.

The highlight for the hometown crowd was the final batter, the Yankees’ Robinson Cano, who did not manage to hit a single homer. He became the fifth hitter in the competition’s history to bagel.

Cano, the defending champion, had miffed the locals by not including the Royals’ Billy Butler on his American League team. He was booed all night, and then cheered with each of the 10 outs he made. When he was done, he got a standing ovation.