A year ago today: Alonso hits 118.3-mph HR
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To help fill the baseball void, we’re flipping the calendar back one year to remind us all just how awesome our great game is. Here's a look back at the best of April 11, 2019:
Mets slugger Pete Alonso delivered a debut season for the ages in 2019, leading the Majors and setting an all-time rookie record with 53 homers. None was as hard as the one he hit against the Braves one year ago today.
In fact, Alonso's 118.3-mph laser, which traveled an estimated 454 feet and splashed down well beyond Atlanta's center-field wall in the top of the seventh inning, is tied for the 10th-hardest home run in Statcast history -- and the hardest by a player not named Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton.
The next frame, Ronald Acuña Jr. -- the National League Rookie of the Year Award winner in 2018 -- smashed a colossal shot of his own, slugging a 462-footer to the concourse in left field. Acuna was a double shy of the cycle in this one, but it wasn't enough as the Mets held on for a 6-3 win.
Best of the rest:
Mariners make home run history, continue torrid start: The Mariners were the talk of baseball early last year, racing to a 13-2 start despite trading a number of productive veterans during the offseason. Seattle also set an all-time record for consecutive games with at least one home run to start a season, eventually running its streak to 20 games.
The club broke the previous record of 14 games one year ago today when Dee Gordon homered in the sixth inning against the Royals. Seattle was still down 4-1 at that point, but it rallied back to tie the game in the ninth and won 7-6 on Daniel Vogelbach's solo homer to center field in the 10th.
The M's were unable to keep up their winning ways, however, going 55-92 the rest of the season.
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Davis records second straight two-homer game: After crushing 40-plus homers in 2016, '17 and '18, Khris Davis appeared to be headed there again last season when he went deep 10 times in his first 17 games, including back-to-back multi-homer efforts against the Orioles at Camden Yards. The second of those two games came on April 11, 2019, an 8-5 Athletics win.
Despite the early power surge, Davis ended up finishing with just 23 home runs and a career-low .679 OPS after an injury-plagued campaign.
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