Stanton drills 465-foot home run over batter's eye

Giancarlo Stanton has a reputation for turning the smallest of mistakes into home runs that land beyond outfield concourses of ballparks across the major leagues.

Since 2010, Stanton had hit 25 home runs of 460 or more feet entering Friday. No other team in major league baseball has more than 15 during that span.

He added another to the list during the Marlins' 12-7 win over the Pirates at PNC Park, and it was a 465-foot shot that cleared the batter's eye in center field.



Tyler Glasnow knew to approach Stanton with caution. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound right fielder hit at least 25 home runs in five of his first seven seasons in the major leagues, including a 504-foot home run at the Rockies' Coors Field last August.

Entering Friday, he had 15 home runs and 39 RBI with a .284 average.

That's what made the pitch in the top of the third inning so frustrating for Glasnow. He threw this hanging 1-2 curveball that broke right over the middle of the plate, and it left Stanton's bat at a speed of 111 miles per hour, landing where no other home run has in the 16 years since PNC Park opened:



"He’s like any other hitter; if you don’t hit your spots and your stuff’s not there bad things will happen and he just happens to be freakishly strong," Glasnow said afterward.

Statcast estimated that home run at 449 feet, but ESPN adjusted the distance to 465. Only two visiting players have hit home runs of 460 or more feet at PNC Park: Stanton and the Yankees' Aaron Judge.

Both of those home runs occurred this season. If the distance on Stanton's is accurate, that would be just shy of the 468-foot home run he hit off Adam Wilk of the Mets on May 7.

"He likes it over the plate for sure," catcher Jacob Stallings said. "Maybe he was sitting on it. That was a pretty impressive piece of hitting."

Judge's home run off Antonio Bastardo on April 22 was estimated at 457 feet by Statcast and had an exit velocity of 115.6 miles per hour.

This was similar.

Andrew McCutchen barely moved as he watched it sail beyond the wall, over both bullpens and landing on top of a camera perch. It exemplified the issues the Pirates' pitching has encountered — allowing 19 runs in the first two games of the series.

Allowing such a home run was not embarrassing to Glasnow. He and the Pirates know what Stanton can do when a mistake like that is made. Knowing that did not make the moment any easier though.

Facing Stanton was far from an ideal matchup for the right-hander.

Glasnow has allowed 12 home runs in 12 starts, and his home run to fly ball ratio is nearly triple what it was during his 20 starts in Triple-A Indianapolis last season. He also allowed a two-run homer to Tyler Moore later in the third inning, but that was nothing like Stanton's.

It dotted the exclamation point for the Marlins on a night when they had 18 hits, including multi-hit games from five players.

Josh Bell stood at his stall inside the Pirates' clubhouse and looked over at Glasnow's. The two have become friends during their trek through the minor leagues. He knows the anguish the young starting pitcher is feeling, but he wanted to make it clear that allowing a home run such as Stanton's was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Shoot, it happens to the best of them," he said. "That guy has done that to a lot of people."