Kansas City Royals: Alex Gordon Sets MLB Record with Solo Home Run

It’s been a tough season for Alex Gordon. But the Kansas City Royals outfielder broke an MLB record with his solo home run against the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Baseball is a game chock-full of irony. That point was never more evident than when Alex Gordon homered for the Kansas City Royals against Toronto Blue Jays played on Tuesday night.

As fans of the game may have noticed, players across the league are hitting home runs at a record pace this season. Mike Moustakas is on the cusp of setting the franchise record for home runs in a season. Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and others are leading a home-run heavy rookie class. And Tuesday was the day MLB, as a whole, set a new season mark for home runs.

Enter, Gordon.

Based on statistics shared by ESPN’s David Shoenfield, the Kansas City Royals outfielder has been the worst position player in all of baseball—at least among those who have been consistently put in a lineup. So it makes perfect sense that his solo home run in the eighth inning Tuesday set the season home run record. MLB’s official Twitter account shared video of the historic moment:

The homer became the 5,694th of the season—breaking the old mark set way back in 2000. Here’s a photo of the famous baseball, as shared by Royals vice president of communications and broadcasting Mike Swanson:

The record-breaking home run, which came off Ryan Tepera, did not do enough to see the Kansas City Royals get a win over the Blue Jays. Toronto held on for a 5-2 victory, which further dented Kansas City’s fading playoff hopes.

In a season to forget, it was nice to see Gordon set the record. Here’s what he had to say about it after the game, per the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd:

The blast gave Gordon just eight homers on the season. He now has a triple-slash line of .209/.286/.314. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he had the lowest slugging percentage (.307) of the 149 qualified hitters in MLB entering Tuesday’s game.

#BecauseBaseball

There are still 12 days remaining in the MLB regular season. The home run record will be obliterated in that time. It remains to be seen if Gordon will add any more to that number. The way baseball works out, it would be incredibly fitting if he didn’t.

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Either way, the Kansas City Royals have something to hang their hat on if the season doesn’t end in a playoff berth. Now, we just need Moustakas to shake the curse of Steve Balboni.