Statcast of the Day: Blue Jays, Reds hit half a mile of HRs

Clubs combine for seven clouts of 410 feet or longer at Rogers Centre

May 31st, 2017

Tuesday night's game at Rogers Centre did not lack offensive fireworks. The Blue Jays and Reds combined for seven home runs in Toronto's 6-4 win. It marked the second game in the Statcast™ era (2015-present) with seven home runs that each traveled a projected 410 feet or greater.
Josh Donaldson (435 feet), (434), (431), Zack Cozart (422, 415), Joey Votto (417) and (411) plated nine of the game's 10 runs via homers. The only other instance in the last three seasons where seven home runs were each hit a projected 410 feet or greater was a matchup between the Rockies and Mets at the notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field on Aug. 21, 2015.
The Blue Jays accomplished another rare statistical feat with three players -- Donaldson, Bautista and Morales -- hitting home runs projected at 430 feet or greater, something that's only happened 18 times since Statcast™ debuted in 2015. The Rockies hold the record with four in a game last season on June 26.
Donaldson's solo shot in the fourth -- the longest of the game with a 109.3-mph exit velocity and 31-degree launch angle -- reached the fifth deck at Rogers Centre. Donaldson is now the ninth Blue Jays player to hit a home run into the fifth deck, a spot that's been reached just 20 times since the ballpark opened in 1989.

The Padres' Alex Dickerson was the last player to knock a long ball into the fifth deck on July 25, 2016. was the last Toronto hitter to do so (Aug. 21, 2015, against the Orioles).
Morales' eighth-inning home run was the difference in the game. His go-ahead, two-run blast came on a 96.9-mph fastball from Reds reliever and gives him four home runs on pitches 96 mph or greater this season. Entering Tuesday, no other player in the Majors had homered off more than two such pitches.

With a 111.3-mph exit velocity, Morales' homer was also the hardest-hit of the game and his hardest of the season.
Cozart's first-inning homer (422 feet) ranks as his third-longest of the Statcast™ era, while his fifth-inning shot (415) is tied for fifth. Cozart's personal best is 444 feet, set exactly one year ago Tuesday on May 30, 2016. Tuesday also marked the third multi-homer game of his career.