{"id":718066,"date":"2026-06-06T01:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718066\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:36:27","slug":"last-night-in-baseball-ketel-marte-hit-a-walk-off-homer-you-have-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718066\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Night In Baseball: Ketel Marte Hit A Walk-Off Homer You Have To See"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is always baseball happening \u2014 almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:<\/p>\n

\"Arizona<\/a>Now That\u2019s A Walk-Off Homer<\/p>\n

Diamondbacks\u2019 second baseman Ketel Marte walked off the Dodgers on Thursday, earning Arizona a series\u2019 split with the surging NL West leader. It\u2019s an incredible home run, a dinger worth celebrating (unless you\u2019re a Dodgers\u2019 fan, naturally), so let\u2019s go through the moment piece by piece to pick out the best parts.<\/p>\n

First, the dinger in question, off of Tanner Scott:<\/p>\n

The home run itself was incredible. Marte took a 97.2 mph fastball low in the zone and hit it 431 feet, with an exit velocity of 113 mph. Which is a scientific way of saying that he\u00a0crushed that ball.D-Backs\u2019 third baseman Nolan Arenado getting caught on camera saying what appears to be, “Why!? Why would you throw that???” as he walks out to celebrate.As Marte rounds second and heads for third, he mimes taking a jump shot.Turning the corner at third, Marte notices that he\u2019s being stalked by his double-play partner, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. Perdomo had the Gatorade bucket and gave chase, but Marte eluded him and kept heading toward home.He\u00a0does get slammed with the gum bucket, though, while still heading home.Perdomo doesn\u2019t give up just because he missed Marte on the first pass, but his second attempt isn\u2019t successful, either. Instead of Marte getting drenched, it\u2019s starter Eduardo Rodriguez eating a faceful of water.It\u2019s not shown in this video, but Perdomo then got a\u00a0second bucket of water, and dumped that on another starter, Merrill Kelly.<\/p>\n

Baseball rules. Oh, and check this out.<\/p>\n

Add that bat flip to the above list, because it\u2019s expert-level even without the mimicry. Marte has three walk-off hits already on the season, the most of anyone in the league. And there\u2019s a whole lot of 2026 left, too.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/a>Cubs Avoid Sweep With Walk-Off<\/p>\n

Speaking of walk-offs and a whole lot of them, the Chicago Cubs picked up their seventh of the season on Thursday, the most in MLB. “Are the Cubs good?” is not an easy question to answer, between this, the two 10-game winning streaks and the 10-game losing streak. But it\u2019s at least a team that feels like it\u00a0could be good, and with all these wild-card spots, that might be enough even in the more crowded National League.<\/p>\n

The hero of the day was center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, but before the walk-off, he went yard in the sixth to put the Cubs on the board and cut the Athletics\u2019 lead to 4-1.<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s would respond with another pair of runs, but then left fielder Ian Happ undid that progress with a two-run shot in the seventh. Still not nearly enough, but patience: the big inning was coming.<\/p>\n

In the bottom of the ninth, Joel Kuhnel came on in relief of Mark Leiter Jr. for the A\u2019s. Everything began to unravel right then and there. First baseman Michael Busch led off the inning with a double, and then Happ hit a second one to cut the lead to 6-4. Second baseman Nico Hoerner singled Happ to third, but was then caught stealing \u2014 two outs. Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros ripped a single to short that deflected off of Alika Williams, with third baseman Zack Gelof then unable to reel it in, either. Happ scored; 6-5, A\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Seiya Suzuki entered as a pinch-hitter and singled, putting the tying run in scoring position. Luis Medina then entered the game in relief of Kuhnel, but he gave up a game-tying single to the first batter he faced, shortstop Dansby Swanson, whose knock also sent Suzuki 90 feet from home plate. That brought up PCA with a chance to be the hero, and he delivered.<\/p>\n

A complete meltdown by the Athletics in the ninth, but take heart, A\u2019s fans: this just lost the game, not the series, and with the Mariners off on Thursday the damage to the standings was just half-a-game.<\/p>\n

\"Athletics<\/a>Langeliers Pulls Off A Weird Combo<\/p>\n

There was also this fun bit of game, before said meltdown. Designated hitter Shea Langeliers joined a strange club, as he hit a home run the traditional way in the fourth inning\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026and then in the sixth hit an inside-the-park homer for his second of the day.<\/p>\n

Per MLB\u2019s\u00a0Sarah Langs<\/a>, Langeliers is the 15th player in A\u2019s history to have a multi-homer game with an inside-the-park shot, and just the fifth during the divisional era (1969-2026). And also per\u00a0Langs<\/a>, this is the eighth time that it\u2019s happened at Wrigley Field, and the first time since 1991 when Cubs\u2019 legend Ryne Sandberg pulled it off.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth pointing out, too, that it was Pete Crow-Armstrong who lost Langeliers\u2019 second homer in the sky and let it fall behind him. PCA managed to make up for that mistake and then some by the end of the game, huh?<\/p>\n

\"Pittsburgh<\/a>Pirates Keep Pace With W<\/p>\n

While the Cubs were able to gain a game on the Brewers \u2014 Milwaukee lost to the Giants in that series finale, 12-9 \u2014 they were not able to do the same to the NL Central\u2019s second-place team, the Pirates. Pittsburgh took on the Houston Astros in the rubber game at Daikin Park, and it went from close to not all at once.<\/p>\n

The Pirates were up 1-0 entering the sixth inning, as Astros\u2019 starter Kai-Wei Teng had done a successful job of keeping the Bucs\u2019 bats quiet, limiting them to a run and three hits. The sixth was a disaster, however: Teng allowed four consecutive hits, two of them for extra bases, and the Pirates were up 4-0 with a runner still on as he was relieved.<\/p>\n

Second baseman Brandon Lowe led off with a double, then DH Bryan Reynolds singled him home to make it 2-0. Right fielder Ryan O\u2019Hearn followed with his ninth homer of the year, and then third baseman Nick Gonzales knocked Teng out of the game with a single.<\/p>\n

An error by Jeremy Pe\u00f1a at shortstop allowed Gonzales to come around and score to make it 5-0 later in the inning, and while Houston would hold the Pirates scoreless the rest of the way, the damage was already done.<\/p>\n

Reliever Carmen Mlodzinski gave up one run to the Astros, but secured a four-inning save by otherwise being highly effective, and that was the series. Pittsburgh moved to just 4.5 games behind the Brewers in the Central, and sits half-a-game up for a wild-card spot, as well.<\/p>\n

\"Houston<\/a>Paredes Makes Mexican History<\/p>\n

There was one bright spot for the Astros in the loss, though. Third baseman Isaac Paredes became just the fourth Mexican player in MLB to hit at least 100 home runs in his career, with this sixth-inning dinger off of Mlodzinski.<\/p>\n

The other three players? Vinny Castillo is the all-time leader with 320, followed by Jorge Orta (130) and Aurelio Rodr\u00edguez (120). As Paredes is a) a pretty good hitter and b) just 27 years old, he\u2019ll be climbing further up this list.<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/a>Vladdy\u2019s Legs Vs. Acu\u00f1a\u2019s Arm, Who Ya Got?<\/p>\n

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had a power drought lately, but he\u2019s still hitting plenty of singles and walking. When the opportunity to stretch a single into a double came up against the Braves, the Blue Jays\u2019 first baseman seized it, even coming up against the powerful arm of right fielder Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/p>\n

Guerrero got the best of Acu\u00f1a there, but the real gold is in the post-play finger wag. Pretty great, too, considering Guerrero just looked happy to still be alive after getting to second safe. It\u2019s not every day a baserunner wins against Acu\u00f1a\u2019s arm! It\u2019s worth celebrating.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays would end up winning the game, too, 7-2. Toronto has nearly crept back to .500, at 30-33; the Braves are doing quite well despite this loss, though, thank you, as Atlanta is leading the majors with 42 wins and the fewest losses of anyone.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/a>Jung Hoo Lee Goes Big Again<\/p>\n

About that 12-9 Giants win: once again, right fielder Jung Hoo Lee was at the center of a high-scoring day for San Francisco. He finished up his May with a five-hit game against the Rockies that saw the Giants win 19-6, and on Thursday he went 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Lee, now in his third season in the majors, seems to be taking another step forward offensively. In his rookie season, he hit just .262\/.310\/.331 for an OPS+ of 85, but then put in an above-average performance in 2025, batting .266\/.327\/.407 for a 110 OPS+. This year so far, he\u2019s added quite a bit of batting average, bringing up his line as a whole to .322\/.356\/.447 and a 132 OPS+.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of this is probably batted ball luck, but he\u2019s also been a bit more aggressive at the plate and taking advantage of pitches he can hit earlier in the count. It\u2019s cost him some walks, but it\u2019s tough to argue with the results so far. Baseball really is a series of adjustments back and forth forever.<\/p>\n

\"Kansas<\/a>The Mound With The Assist<\/p>\n

Betrayal. That\u2019s all you can label this as. A betrayal by the mound, against Twins\u2019 reliever Justin Lawrence. Here he is, in a tie game, throwing off the mound as pitchers always do, and a comebacker up the middle strikes the mound and sends the ball careening off its path.<\/p>\n

What should have been a ball hit to the pitcher instead struck at the exact wrong place and angle, and shot\u00a0behind Lawrence and into center field. The game had been tied, 6-6, but the Royals had loaded the bases, and third baseman Josh Rojas \u2014 who had entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Nick Loftin \u2014 managed to thread the needle and score two runners to go up 8-6.<\/p>\n

The Twins wouldn\u2019t answer in the bottom of the inning, and the Royals would win the opening game of this four-game series. At 25-38, Kansas City already needs every win it can get to catch up in the AL Central and wild-card races. Taking a series from the Reds and this win is a good start, but that\u2019s all it is so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is always baseball happening \u2014 almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don’t worry,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[592,5654,64,63,5158,5163,5261,5882,591,5160,5157,85,5161],"class_list":["post-718066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-athletics","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-houston-astros","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}