Stanton reaches HR 400, but “doesn’t change much” for the Yanks

Giancarlo Stanton reached a career milestone Tuesday night, hitting his 400th home run as the New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-1.

Stanton’s two-run homer by Jose Cisnero broke the tie at 1 in the sixth inning. A slugger has reached 400 in 1,520 career games – fourth fastest in major league history, behind Mark McGuire (1,412), Babe Ruth (1,475) and Alex Rodriguez (1,489). Albert Pujols ranks fifth with a score of 1,523.

Stanton’s 451-foot Laser to left center was caught by a gloved fan in the front row of the bleachers high above the Tigers’ playing field. The large video board displayed the 400th, and Stanton — often the target of boos at Yankee Stadium since his 2018 arrival — emerged from the dugout to throw the curtain, taking off his helmet in front of the 31,553-strong crowd.

“It’s definitely a nice little wake-up call, and a bigger picture ordeal,” Stanton said of his 400 hit. “Not a lot has changed in terms of how the year goes. But we’ve got a month to go, so that’s all I can focus on or really care about.”

Stanton, the 2017 National League Player of the Year with the Miami Marlins, became the 58th major league player to hit 400 home runs and the 10th to do so with the Yankees. After the match, he managed to recover the ball.

“The guy made a great catch. I just met him out there,” Stanton said of the fan who caught the historic ball. “I’ll give him and his family the balls and bats. It’s great to be able to meet him.”

DJ LeMahieu hit his second lead in four games, and Gleiber Torres had a double in two runs for the last-place Yankees (69-69), who won four straight wins and seven of eight to return to . 500 for the first time. time since August 15th.

But the night belonged to Stanton, and New York manager Aaron Boone did not lose sight of it.

“I’m really excited for him, because I know what he puts into it, and I know what that means to him,” Boone said. “I know what kind of teammate he is. We’ve got a lot of players who aren’t selfish players, they do it to win at the highest level, and G has always embodied that here.”

Given the kind of campaign the Yankees have run — not to mention Stanton, who hits just . 205 — Boone made sure to note the standing ovation.

“It was very nice to see him get that moment,” said the manager. “He was in a great place in the game.”

Boone called the home run “an absolute missile”.

“I didn’t have a number in mind when I first started this game,” said Stanton. “But it’s great to be here now and to carry on.”

The only other active player with more than 400 home runs is Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera, who went 1-for-3 with the Tigers’ only RBI in the loss. The 40-year-old Cabrera, who received gifts from the Yankees at a pregame party on the field, plans to retire after this season.

“It was amazing,” Detroit catcher Jake Rogers said of the ceremony. “It’s really cool to see what the different teams get up to.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.