Last Night in Baseball: Marcelo Mayer’s first multi-homer game powers Red Sox

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Whether Mayer sticks in the majors in the long run in 2025 is still a bit up for debate, as he was brought there to fill in for the injured Alex Bregman, who is expected to return from his quad strain in July. The more he hits over the next few weeks, the more difficult it will be to send him back to Worcester rather than finding at-bats for him in Boston’s lineup, however.

Cutch passes Clemente on Pirates’ all-time HR list

Andrew McCutchen was originally drafted by the Pirates back in 2005, and then spent his entire pro career with them as a homegrown star until he was dealt to the Giants before the 2018 season. Cutch would then be traded to the Yankees prior to signing first with the Phillies and then the Brewers, before reuniting with his original club before the 2023 season.

A series of one-year deals have kept him in Pittsburgh since, and while he’s not the offensive force he once was, he can still put up a quality season, and move himself up the franchise’s all-time lists in the process. On Wednesday, McCutchen hit his sixth homer of the year, no. 241 in a Pirates uniform, and it pushed him past Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente into sole possession of third-place on the Pirates’ all-time homer list.

Given McCutchen is 38 years old, that’s probably as far as he’s going to get in the rankings: Ralph Kiner is in second with 301 long balls, and Willie Stargell is very comfortably in first with 475. Still! Third place is nothing to sneeze at, for any organization, never mind one that had Stargell, Kiner, Clemente, Barry Bonds and Dave Parker – the only one of those that isn’t a Hall of Famer is the one who happens to be MLB’s all-time home run leader.

Luzardo gets back on track

Jesús Luzardo started the season 5-0 with a 2.15 ERA over his first 11 starts, striking out 77 batters in 60 innings of work. He was basically as good as that ERA said, too, but things came undone in the next two starts. Luzardo allowed 21 hits and 20 earned runs over just 5.2 innings against the Brewers and Blue Jays. His earned run average shot all the way up to 4.46 for the season.

On Wednesday, though, Luzardo returned to form, and kept one of MLB’s best offenses quiet. Luzardo held the Chicago Cubs to just one run over six innings, and more impressively, struck out 10 batters for the fourth time this season. It’ll take a little longer to fully undo the damage from those two starts – his ERA dropped to 4.23 – but at least he helped the Phillies win a ballgame again.

Judge homers for third straight game

Aaron Judge’s solo home run in the seventh inning added some cushion to the Yankees lead over the Royals, as they were already up 5-0. His 25th shot of the year came on the heels of a two-homer game Sunday against Boston and a 469-foot shot in the series opener against Kansas City on Tuesday night. 

For those keeping score at home, that’s four homers in three games, and the two-time MVP has eight RBIs over those contests, as well.  This marks the first time this season that Judge has hit home runs in three consecutive games. He’s inching closer to becoming the AL’s homer leader, too, as he’s now within one of Seattle Mariners‘ catcher Cal Raleigh.

Buxton out-Judges Judge

Remember that mention of Tuesday’s 469-foot Aaron Judge homer from a couple of paragraphs back? As discussed in this space on Wednesday, that was the third-longest homer of the season. Emphasis on the past tense there now, as the Twins‘ Byron Buxton knocked it to fourth place with one swing of the bat the very next day.

Buxton’s blast went 479 feet, the second-longest home run of the season by anyone, trailing behind only Mike Trout‘s mammoth 484-foot shot from April. Here’s one of the beautiful things about baseball: being big and strong can add to your power, yes, but it’s not the only reason that someone can hit a titanic homer. Judge is listed at 6-foot-7 and 282 lbs. Trout is 6-foot-2, 235 lbs., and built like a linebacker. Byron Buxton is also 6-2, but listed at 45 lbs. less than Trout. And yet! Thanks to his wrists and a beautiful, efficient swing, Buxton hit a ball five feet short of Trout’s impossible shot, and 10 feet further than Judge’s eye-popping dinger. That’s baseball, baby.

Rockies almost win, until they didn’t (again)

It’s been a bad week for the Rockies. They came off of a sweep of the Marlins only to be swept by the Mets, and now the Giants are one game away from a four-game sweep of Colorado. On Tuesday, the Rox blew it in the ninth, but on Wednesday, it only took until the eighth for things to fall apart.

The Rockies entered the top of the eighth up 6-3, but then they loaded the bases and walked Casey Schmitt, making it 6-4. Mike Yastrzemski followed up with a double that scored Heliot Ramos and Dominic Smith – 6-6. 

Things got worse before the inning was over. Schmitt, still on third, attempted to score on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Fitzgerald. He was originally called out, but the Giants challenged, and the call was overturned: 7-6, Giants.

San Francisco would score three more in the top of the ninth, with Schmitt and Yasztremski responsible for two of those runs via singles, and the Rockies couldn’t muster enough offense in the bottom of the frame to come back. They’re now 12-55, with the most losses for any team through 67 games. 

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Marcelo Mayer

Boston Red Sox

Major League Baseball

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