Major leagues:
Luis González hit his first major league homer, a two-run drive with two outs in the ninth inning that sent the San Francisco Giants over the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 Monday night.
The Giants went 8-3 on their four-city trip and made the most of their one-game visit to Milwaukee. This matchup was part of a makeup for a series postponed because of the lockout, and San Francisco will return for a doubleheader in September.
González connected after Wilmer Flores drew a two-out walk from Jake Cousins (2-1). González, a 26-year-old outfielder, is technically still a rookie after brief stints in each of the past two seasons with the Chicago White Sox.
Joc Pederson hit his sixth homer for the Giants. The San Francisco newcomer homered twice and doubled Sunday in a win at Washington.
American League
Toronto 6, Boston 2: Bo Bichette broke an eighth-inning tie with his first career grand slam and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the slumping Boston Red Sox, 6-2.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Matt Chapman also homered for the Blue Jays. José Berríos allowed two runs in a season-high seven-plus innings and Adam Cimber (4-0) got three outs for his major league-leading fourth win as Toronto won for the fifth time in six games.
Boston has lost three straight and five of six. The Red Sox have scored two runs or fewer in all five of those defeats.
Bichette snapped a 2-all tie with a two-out drive to right field off right-hander Tyler Danish in the eighth. The homer was Bichette’s second of the season.
Long wait after Cabrera?Miguel Cabrera reached the 3,000-hit mark on a weekend afternoon in front of an adoring crowd at his home ballpark in Detroit. It was a moment worthy of the milestone.
It could also be the last time it happens for a while.
In an era of high strikeout totals and low batting averages, there aren’t any other players who seem likely to reach 3,000 hits any time soon. In fact, the first few weeks of this season are a reminder of how current trends in baseball could affect which milestones remain in reach for the game’s top players.
Among active players, the next man on the career hits list is Robinson Canó with 2,631. Canó had a good season for the New York Mets in the shortened 2020 campaign, but he missed the whole 2021 season serving a drug suspension. Canó turns 40 in October.
Among players closer to their primes, 31-year-old Jose Altuve (1,783 hits) could have a shot, but the Houston Astros star hasn’t even reached 170 in a season since 2017. That was also the last time he played more than 146 games, and Altuve just went on the injured list with a hamstring problem.
Part of what helped Cabrera to the milestone was that he reached the big leagues at age 20. The same was true of Tampa Bay star Wander Franco last year. He has 103 hits in his first 85 games, but even if Franco goes on to have a Hall of Fame career, it’ll obviously be a while before has a chance to threaten a milestone like 3,000 hits.
The outlook is a little better for a power mark like 500 homers. Nelson Cruz has 451, and although he’s off to a slow start this year, don’t write off the 41-year-old Washington Nationals slugger. When the 2008 season ended, Cruz was 28 and had only 22 home runs in his career, so the fact that he’s this close to 500 shows how well he has kept hitting them at an advanced age.