Suárez Ties Alonso in MLB Home Run Chase

At the beginning of the year, most baseball fans would have predicted that MLB’s home run leaders would be players like Christian Yelich (fuck the Brewers), Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado and Giancarlo Stanton. However, a rookie and one of the league’s most underrated players are currently tied for first place.

INF Pete Alonso, the rookie Home Run Derby winner of the New York Mets, broke New York’s franchise record with his 42nd of the year at the end of August and currently has 47. He is also nearing the MLB rookie mark of 52 set by Aaron Judge of the other New York team in 2017.

On Sunday, INF Eugenio Suárez of the Cincinnati Reds hit two home runs to power Cincy to a 3-1 victory over the Diamondbacks. He has quietly become one of the most feared hitters in the NL Central and is now tied with Alonso atop the MLB home run leaderboard with 47, overtaking Trout, who will finish the year with 45 bombs after it was announced he will need season-ending foot surgery.

With his 47th dinger, Suárez has tied former INF Andrés “Big Cat” Galarraga for the single-season record for homers hit by a Venezuelan-born player. He currently has an even 100 RBI and will likely enter the 50/100 club, barring injury. 52 home runs in 2019 would tie him with OF George Foster for the Cincy franchise record as well as the MLB record for home runs by a third baseman, set by the infamous Alex Rodríguez in 2007.

The Reds will take on the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series at Wrigley Field in Chicago starting tonight at 8:05 PM ET. The Cubs are coming off of a historic weekend of their own, scoring 47 runs in a sweep of the Pirates, the most the Northsiders have scored in a three-game series since 1894. Matchup: Kevin Gausman (3-8, 5.83 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (7-7, 3.89 ERA). Support the site by purchasing your tickets from SeatGeek!

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