MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) — The Minnesota Twins beat the New York Yankees to a home run milestone on Thursday, becoming the first team in major league history to belt 300 homers in a single season.
Minnesota got its 300th from Jonathan Schoop in the seventh inning at Detroit, and Willians Astudillo socked No. 301 in the eighth inning of the Twins’ 10-4 win over the Tigers.
The Yankees, who have 299 homers this year, were idle Thursday.
Before this year, the single-season record for team home runs was 267, set by the Yankees last year. They broke the mark of 264 established by the 1997 Seattle Mariners.
This year, four teams have topped 267: the Twins, the Yankees, the Houston Astros (279) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (274). The Oakland A’s (253), Chicago Cubs (250), Milwaukee Brewers (246) and Atlanta Braves (245) also have homer totals this year that rank among the top 20 in history.
The old record for total major league homers in a year was 6,105, set in 2017, but that mark was surpassed on Sept. 11. Through the first two games Thursday, the total was up to 6,627.
Schoop’s historic blast, a 371-foot shot to left field, came with one on and one out against Tigers right-hander Jose Cisnero.
Astudillo added a solo homer with two outs in the eighth — a 380-foot blast to left field against right-hander Zac Reininger.
–Field Level Media
