Taiwan’s Lee slams 9th homer of year

MR 300: Alonso gave a rare curtain call for a visiting player after his 300th career homer against his former team, with the crowd calling to fire the Mets’ manager

Taiwanese infielder Lee Hao-yu on Tuesday night launched a 124m dinger into the left field stands at Rogers Centre, tying Yu Chang for the single-season record for homers by a Taiwanese MLB player and giving the Detroit Tigers their ninth run of the evening in their 10-1 drubbing of the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was Lee’s ninth home run of the season, as Detroit extended their winning streak to six games.

Lee, who was playing third base, hit the solo homer off a 128kph curve ball from Joe Mantiply in the ninth inning.

The Detroit Tigers’ Taiwanese infielder Lee Hao-yu, right, celebrates with teammate Spencer Torkleson after beating the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Tuesday night.

Photo: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Lee broke Chang’s single-season record for hits by a Taiwanese player last month, and he now has 74 hits and 32 RBIs, with two stolen bases and a batting average of .258 in 287 at-bats this season.

Chang reached the nine-homer mark while playing for the then-Cleveland Indians in 2021. He now plays for the CPBL’s Fubon Guardians.

Spencer Torkelson on Tuesday hit a three-run homer and Drew Anderson pitched five shutout innings.

The Baltimore Orioles’ Pete Alonso, center, acknowledges the crowd after hitting a solo home run during the ninth inning of their MLB game against the New York Mets in New York on Tuesday.

Photo: AP

The Blue Jays have lost six of nine. Toronto fell two games behind Cleveland in the race for the final American League wild card after the Guardians rallied in the ninth to beat the Chicago White Sox 7-6.

The Tigers are 4-1/2 games behind Cleveland, with three teams in between.

In New York, Pete Alonso hit his 300th career home run, a tying shot in the ninth inning against his former team, while Coby Mayo’s inside-the-park homer in the 11th sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-5 victory over the Mets at Citi Field.

“There’s a lot of history here with me,” Alonso said after receiving a beer shower from his Baltimore teammates. “It doesn’t matter where and when, I just want to help the team win. I’m just really, really happy for us to come back the way we did.”

The Orioles were two outs from a defeat that would have dropped them four games behind Cleveland for the last American League playoff spot when Alonso hit a 126m solo drive off Kodai Senga to tie the score 3-all.

A fired-up Alonso, who hit a club-record 264 homers for the Mets before signing with the Orioles in December last year, spiked his bat toward the Baltimore dugout. He rounded the bases as the Queens crowd of 28,097 — down from 35,800 for the slugger’s return on Monday night — roared.

Fans chanted his name until Alonso emerged from the dugout for a curtain call. Then chants of “Fire Stearns” began, aimed at Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.

“Everyone in the dugout was saying go out there,” Alonso said. “And they were right.”

The rare curtain call on the road continued an outpouring of support from Mets fans for Alonso over the past two nights — and apparently annoyed at least one of his former teammates.

“As the 2026 Mets, I know we have definitely underperformed, but we are — the guys in here work their [tails] off every single day and to have that kind of reaction to an opposing player — could be anybody — is crazy to me,” said New York pitcher Sean Manaea, who started Tuesday night. “Again, I’ve got nothing but respect for Pete, but yeah, just never seen anything like that before.”

Elsewhere, the Milwaukee Brewers sank the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1, the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 4-0, the Washington Nationals rallied to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 and the Atlanta Braves outplayed the Chicago Cubs 6-3.

The Tampa Bay Rays pipped the Athletics 2-1, the New York Yankees cruised past the Minnesota Twins 8-1, the Colorado Rockies crushed the San Diego Padres 9-3, the Texas Rangers defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-2 and the Houston Astros downed the Kansas City Royals 4-2.

The San Francisco Giants beat the St Louis Cardinals 10-3, the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Seattle Mariners 2-1 and the Miami Marlins outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 in 11 innings.