Twins slugger’s three-homer night includes the week’s longest plus another among the top 25 in MLB. Yankee pitchers surrender five longer than 430 feet.
There wasn’t any doubt who won the battle of the three-homer games. It was Nelson Cruz. Four MLB players hit three home runs in a single game this past week. Robinson Cano did it for the Mets on Tuesday, Paul DeJong for St. Louis Wednesday, Cruz for Minnesota Thursday and Mookie Betts for Boston Friday.
But Cruz alone among those four belted one far enough to make the list of the week’s 25 longest. Cruz placed two of his on the list, including the week’s longest, a 473-footer. His shortest, at 430 feet, missed the top 25 by the length of a gimme putt.
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All of Cruz’s came against Chicago White Sox starter Lucas Giolito, making Giolito one of two pitchers to deliver two of the top 25 bombs. Cruz’s 433-footer ranked 19th.
The other pitcher to throw two was Masahiro Tanaka, who surrendered a 451-footer to Xander Bogaerts and a 437-footer to Rafael Devers.
Those were two of five long home runs thrown by Yankee pitchers, four of them to Boston Red Sox hitters. James Paxton and C.C. Sabathia both threw 430-foot-plus home runs to J.D. Martinez. Minnesota’s Miguel Sano touched Zack Britton for a 457-footer on Tuesday.
Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez joined Cruz and Martinez in authoring two of the week’s 25 longest.
The average distance of the 25 longest was 443.2 feet.
Here’s the full list of the 25 longest home runs in MLB during week-17 of the season.
Date     Batter, team                                    Pitcher, team                    Distance
1             July 25  Nelson Cruz, Sea             Lucas Giolito, CWS     473
2             July 24  Josh VanMeter, Cin     Jhoulys Chacin, Mil         463
3             July 23  Nomar Mazara, Tex     Tommy Milone, Sea       458
4             July 23  Miguel Sano, Min            Zack Britton, NYY      457
5             July 22  Robel Garcia, Chc            Shaun Anderson, SF      454
6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â July 23Â Â Mike Trout, LAAÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Kenta Maeda, LAÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 454
7             July 25  Xander Bogaerts, Bos    Masahiro Tanaka, NYY  451
8             July 21  Alex Avila, Ari                   Brandon Woodruff, Mil 448
9             July 27  Ronald Acuna Jr., Atl    Zach Eflin, Phi         447
10          July 25  John Hicks, Det         Wade LeBlanc, Sea     447
11          July 27  Shohei Ohtani, LAA     Aaron Brooks, Bal      441
12          July 21  Aaron Hicks, NYY             Scott Oberg, Col       439
13          July 21  Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Tor   Shane Greene, Det     438
14          July 24  Paul Goldschmidt, Stl   Jordan Lyles, Pit       437
15          July 25  Rafael Devers, Bos         Masahiro Tanaka, NYY  437
16          July 22  Justin Smoak, Tor            Mike Clevinger, Cle     435
17          July 24  Nick Williams, Phi      Jordan Zimmerman, Det 435
18          July 24  Trey Mancini, Bal             Taylor Clarke, Ari        435
19          July 23  Lucas Duda, KC         Anthony Swarzak, Atl   435
20          July 23  Roman Quinn, Phi           Matthew Boyd, Det     434
21          July 25  Nelson Cruz, Min       Lucas Giolito, CWS          433
22          July 26  J D Martinez, Bos            James Paxton, NYY         433
23          July 22  Eugenio Suarez, Cin       Jeremy Jeffress. Mil     433
24          July 27  J D Martinez, Bos            C C Sabathia, NYY           432
25          July 27  Eugenio Suarez, Cin       Chi Chi Gonzalez, Col    432