The Minnesota Twins broke the major league record by hitting their 268th home run of the 2019 season Saturday night.
The Twins hit six home runs in their 10-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
Mitch Garver, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, C.J. Cron and Nelson Cruz each went deep, with Cruz’s 450-foot blast to center field in the top of the eighth inning tying the record of 267, set last season by the New York Yankees.
Fittingly, it was Garver who delivered the historic swing — he’d become sort of an unofficial statistician during his team’s pursuit. He hit the record-setter in the top of the ninth, his second solo shot of the game.
“I’ve been tracking them for about a week in the dugout, making announcements: ‘Hey guys, we’re 12 away,’ or, ‘We’re 13 away.’ Something like that,” Garver said. “As it went on today, I kept announcing it, making sure everybody knew.”
Polanco’s home run was his 20th of the season, setting another record for the Twins. Minnesota now has eight players with 20-plus home runs this season, the most by any team in major league history.
The Twins also matched the 2000 Houston Astros‘ MLB record of five games with six or more home runs in a season.
Saturday’s game marked Minnesota’s 11th this season with five or more home runs, extending its major league record, but it’s the first time in franchise history the Twins have lost such a game. They had been 49-0 in such games entering Saturday.
The Twins were understandably subdued after losing the game, but they understood the significance of the accomplishment.
“When these home runs start flying — and they’ve been flying since the very beginning — and there have been some games and weeks that are, they’ve been pretty special,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I know that I haven’t seen many runs — any runs, really — that have been like this. And it just hasn’t stopped.”
ESPN’s Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.