Last night in baseball: Ketel Marte hit a home run that you have to see

There is always baseball, almost too much baseball for one person to follow on their own.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you discover what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:

Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte left the Dodgers on Thursday, earning Arizona a series split with the rising leader of the NL West. It’s an incredible home run, a home run worth celebrating (unless you’re a Dodger fan, naturally), so let’s go through the moment piece by piece to pick out the best parts.

First, the topic at hand, from Tanner Scott:

1. The home run itself was incredible. Marte took a 97.2 mph fastball low in the zone and hit it 431 feet, with an exit velocity of 113 mph. Which is a scientific way of saying he crushed that ball.
2. D-Backs third baseman Nolan Arenado is caught on camera saying what appears to be: “Why!? Why would you throw that???” while going out to celebrate.
3. As Marte turns to second and heads to third, he simulates a jump shot.
4. As he turns the corner at third, Marte realizes that he is being harassed by his double-play partner, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. Perdomo had the bucket of Gatorade and gave chase, but Marte eluded him and continued heading toward his house.
5. However, he gets hit with the bucket of gum while still heading home.
6. Perdomo doesn’t give up just because he missed Marte on the first pass, but his second attempt is also unsuccessful. Instead of Marte getting soaked, it’s starter Eduardo Rodriguez eating a face full of water.
7. Not shown in this video, but Perdomo then grabbed a second bucket of water and threw it at another starter, Merrill Kelly.

Baseball rules. Oh, and check this out.

Add that bat throw to the list above, because it’s expert level even without the mimicry. Marte already has three walk-off hits on the season, the most of anyone in the league. And there is also a long way to go until 2026.

Speaking of forfeits and many more, the Chicago Cubs had their seventh of the season on Thursday, the most in the MLB. “Are the Cubs any good?” It is not an easy question to answer, between this, the two streaks of 10 wins and the one of 10 losses. But at least it is a team that is eager could be good, and with all these wild card spots, that might be enough even in the more crowded National League.

The hero of the day was center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, but before the start, he went a yard out in the sixth to put the Cubs on the board and cut the A’s lead to 4-1.

The A’s would respond with another pair of runs, but then left fielder Ian Happ undid that progress with a two-run shot in the seventh. It still wasn’t enough, but patience: the grand entrance was approaching.

In the bottom of the ninth, Joel Kuhnel replaced Mark Leiter Jr. for the A’s. Everything started to fall apart at that very moment. First baseman Michael Busch led off the inning with a double and then Happ hit a second to cut the lead to 6-4. Second baseman Nico Hoerner singled Happ to third, but was then caught stealing: two outs. Moisés Ballesteros ripped a single to short that deflected off Alika Williams, and third baseman Zack Gelof couldn’t catch it either. Happ noted; 6-5, A’s.

Seiya Suzuki came in as a pinch-hitter and singled, putting the tying run in scoring position. Luis Medina then entered the game in relief of Kuhnel, but gave up a game-tying single to the first batter he faced, shortstop Dansby Swanson, whose hit also sent Suzuki 90 feet from the plate. That gave PCA the opportunity to be the hero, and he delivered.

A complete collapse by the A’s in the ninth, but take heart, A’s fans: This just lost the game, not the series, and with the Mariners out on Thursday the damage to the standings was only half a game.

There was also a fun game, before said crisis. Designated hitter Shea Langeliers joined an odd club, as he hit a home run in traditional fashion in the fourth inning…

…and then in the sixth he hit an inside-the-park home run for his second of the day.

According to MLB Sarah LangsLangeliers is the 15th player in A’s history to have a multi-homer game with an inside-the-park shot, and just the fifth during the divisional era (1969-2026). And also for LangsThis is the eighth time it’s happened at Wrigley Field, and the first time since 1991, when Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg pulled it off.

It’s also worth noting that it was Pete Crow-Armstrong who missed Langeliers’ second home run in the sky and dropped it behind him. PCA managed to make up for that mistake and then some at the end of the game, huh?

While the Cubs were able to win a game against the Brewers (Milwaukee lost to the Giants in the finale of that series, 12-9), they were unable to do the same with the second-place team in the NL Central, the Pirates. Pittsburgh faced the Houston Astros in the rubber game at Daikin Park, and went from close to not close in one fell swoop.

The Pirates were up 1-0 entering the sixth inning, as Astros starter Kai-Wei Teng had done a successful job of keeping the Bucs’ bats quiet, limiting them to one run and three hits. However, the sixth was a disaster: Teng allowed four consecutive hits, two of them for extra bases, and the Pirates were up 4-0 with a runner still standing when he was relieved.

Second baseman Brandon Lowe led off with a double, then designated hitter Bryan Reynolds singled to make it 2-0. Right fielder Ryan O’Hearn followed with his ninth home run of the year, and then third baseman Nick Gonzales knocked Teng out of the game with a single.

An error by Jeremy Pena at shortstop allowed Gonzales to turn around and score to make the score 5-0 later in the inning, and although Houston held the Pirates scoreless the rest of the game, the damage was done.

Reliever Carmen Mlodzinski allowed one run to the Astros, but secured a four-inning save by being very effective, and that was the series. Pittsburgh moved just 4.5 games behind the Brewers in the Central, and is also a half-game ahead of a wild-card berth.

However, there was one bright spot for the Astros in the loss. Third baseman Isaac Paredes became only the fourth Mexican player in the MLB to hit at least 100 home runs in his career, with this home run in the sixth inning against Mlodzinski.

The other three players? Vinny Castillo is the all-time leader with 320, followed by Jorge Orta (130) and Aurelio Rodríguez (120). Since Paredes is a) a pretty good hitter and b) only 27 years old, he’ll climb higher on this list.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had a power drought lately, but he still hits a lot of singles and walks. When the Braves had the opportunity to turn a single into a double, the Blue Jays first baseman took advantage of it, even running into the powerful arm of right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr.

Guerrero got the best of Acuña there, but the real gold is in the finger movement after the play. Pretty cool too, considering Guerrero seemed happy to still be alive after making it to second place safely. It’s not every day a runner wins against Acuña’s arm! It’s worth celebrating.

The Blue Jays would also end up winning the game, 7-2. Toronto is almost back to .500, at 30-33; The Braves are doing pretty well despite this loss, thank you, as Atlanta leads the majors with 42 wins and the fewest losses.

About that 12-9 Giants win: Once again, right fielder Jung Hoo Lee was at the center of a high-scoring day for San Francisco. He finished May with a five-hit game against the Rockies that saw the Giants win 19-6, and on Thursday he went 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored.

Lee, 27, now in his third season in the majors, appears to be taking another step forward offensively. In his rookie season, he hit just .262/.310/.331 for an OPS+ of 85, but then had an above-average performance in 2025, hitting .266/.327/.407 for an OPS+ of 110. So far this year, he has added quite a bit of batting average, raising his overall line to .322/.356/.447 and OPS+ of 132.

Part of this is probably due to luck with the batted ball, but he’s also been a little more aggressive at the plate and taken advantage of the pitches he can throw earlier in the count. It has cost him some tickets, but it’s hard to argue with the results so far. Baseball really is a series of back and forth adjustments forever.

Betrayal. That’s all you can label as this. A betrayal from the mound, against Twins reliever Justin Lawrence. Here he is, in a tied game, throwing from the mound like pitchers always do, and a returner up the middle hits the mound and sends the ball out of his way.

What should have been a ball hit to the pitcher was instead hit at exactly the wrong place and angle, and he fired. behind Lawrence and to center field. The game had been tied, 6-6, but the Royals had loaded the bases, and third baseman Josh Rojas, who had entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Nick Loftin, managed to thread the needle and score two runners to take an 8-6 lead.

The Twins did not respond in the bottom of the inning and the Royals would win the opening game of this four-game series. At 25-38, Kansas City already needs every win it can get to catch up in the AL Central and the wild card race. Taking a series away from the Reds and this win is a good start, but that’s all so far.