BOSTON — Here’s one thing Twins manager Rocco Baldelli always points out about Miguel Sanó: Much of the time, all he needs to do is make solid contact, and it’s a safe bet that he’ll hit the baseball a long, long way.
Sometimes, the big man makes more than simply solid contact — and that’s when everyone in the zip code needs to take cover.
Such was the case on Wednesday night at Fenway Park, when Sanó put all of his might into a hanging slider by Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta and sent a solo home run clear over the Green Monster and out of Fenway Park for a titanic blast measured by Statcast at 495 feet, the longest home run in the Majors this season. The long ball gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the third inning, though homers by Josh Donaldson and Jake Cave in the 10th inning were more consequential to the outcome of Minnesota’s 9-6 victory over Boston.
The Twins carried a 4-2 lead into the ninth before Alex Colomé allowed a game-tying, two-run homer to Kyle Schwarber with none out, sending the game to extras. Donaldson immediately silenced a raucous Fenway crowd with a leadoff two-run homer off former teammate Hansel Robles, and Cave put the game out of reach with a three-run blast that capped a five-run, game-winning rally.
Still, the most impressive was Sanó’s homer, which didn’t just leave Fenway Park; it sailed out of the ballpark to straightaway left-center field, to the right of the big light tower on the center-field side of the Green Monster. If you think baseballs don’t take that route out of the stadium too often, you’d be right: Before Sanó’s monster clout, the longest homer at Fenway tracked by Statcast was a mere 469 feet, hit by Hanley Ramírez on April 29, 2017.
Certainly, it was the best challenge in some time by any hitter to Ted Williams’ legendary blast of June 9, 1946, which traveled an estimated 502 feet and was honored by a red seat in the right-field bleachers as the longest home run believed to be hit at the venerable stadium.