Giancarlo Stanton became the 58th player in major league history to reach 400 career homers by hitting a tiebreaking two-run shot with two outs in the sixth inning as the host New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1 on Tuesday night.
With the victory, New York (69-69) returned to the .500 mark for the first time since Aug. 15.
Stanton reached the milestone in his 1,520th career game, becoming the fourth-fastest player to accomplish the feat. Only Alex Rodriguez (1,489 games), Babe Ruth (1,475) and Mark McGwire (1,412) were faster.
The slugger also became the 10th player to reach the milestone with the Yankees, who won for the eighth time in 11 games.
After Joey Wentz opened the sixth by walking Aaron Judge, Jasson Dominguez and Gleyber Torres each grounded into a fielder's choice. Stanton then snapped a 1-1 tie by hammering a slider from Jose Cisnero (2-5) over the Detroit bullpen and into the left field bleachers.
The 451-foot blast was Stanton's 22nd homer of the season and occurred after he struck out in his first two at-bats. It also earned him a curtain call, and Stanton tipped his helmet to the crowd of 31,553.
Stanton's mammoth drive helped New York ace Gerrit Cole (13-4) get his third straight win. Cole allowed one run on eight hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out seven, walked none and ended his 104-pitching outing by striking out Javier Baez on a 99-mph fastball with a runner on.
DJ LeMahieu hit a leadoff homer in the first and rookie Dominguez went 1-for-4 with a run in his home debut.
Miguel Cabrera hit a game-tying RBI single off Cole after Kerry Carpenter opened the sixth by hustling for a triple. The Tigers (63-75) were unable to tie a season high with their fifth straight win and dropped to 6-24 against American League East opponents.
Detroit opener Alex Faedo allowed one run on three hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one.
—Field Level Media