Giancarlo Stanton unleashed his 40th home run of the season on Friday night, a new career high mark and about two home runs shy of a new franchise record, too. The milestone blast came in the sixth inning of the Marlins’ 6-3 showstopper against the Rockies, kicking off a late-game rally that shifted Colorado to a mere half-game lead in the National League wild card standings.
Per Statcast, Stanton muscled the ball an estimated 433 feet to center field. The solo shot marked his seventh homer in his last 10 games; with just two more, he’ll tie Gary Sheffield for most single-season home runs in the Marlins’ 25-year history. Sheffield hit the mark in 1996 on a fifth-inning pitch off of the Expos’ Mark Leiter.
Stanton wasn’t the only one to collect a milestone hit during the Marlins’ win, either. Nolan Arenado took Jose Urena deep with a two-run shot in the third inning, plating Charlie Blackmon for his 100th RBI of the season. He’s the first player to reach 100 RBI in 2017 and has now collected at least 100 RBI in each of his last three seasons.
The Marlins completed their rally with a J.T. Realmuto sac fly, Derek Dietrich RBI single and Tomas Telis two-run triple, earning their 54th win of the year and scooting the Rockies a full 16.5 games back of the NL West-leading Dodgers. They currently rank second in the NL East, but sit 14.5 games behind the Nationals and an even 10 games back of a wild card berth.