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5 Things: Giant Walk-Off Wins And A Very Long Home Run

By Sam McPherson

As the Major League Baseball season gets close to June and the onset of summer, everything that happens every week becomes a little more important. Here's what you might have missed last week.

Rangers rookie hits longest home run of the season (so far): 491 feet

Nomar Mazara has a famous first name, and if he keeps hitting like this, he will have a famous last name, too. On Wednesday, the Texas Rangers rookie hit a monster shot into the second deck of right field at Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX. At just 21 years old, Mazara looks like he has a bright future in MLB.

Mazara has nine HRs this season so far, tied for the team lead with longtime slugger Adrian Beltre. However, Mazara has done this in almost 30 fewer plate appearances than his veteran teammate. His .491 slugging percentage is also the best among regulars on the Texas roster. Keep looking for Mazara to make highlight reels with this kind of power for a long time to come.

The last-place Twins sweep the first-place Mariners on the road

On Friday morning, the Seattle Mariners were 28-18 with a 1.5-game lead in the American League West Division, and the Minnesota Twins were 12-34, trailing in the AL Central by 14 games. So naturally, the Twins handed the Mariners three straight losses at Safeco Field in Seattle, proving once again that you never know what will happen in MLB play. Isn't it great when one of the worst teams in the league can sweep one of the best teams? The three wins gave Minnesota four straight wins for just the second time this season, while Seattle saw its lead in the AL West disappear quickly. The Mariners' 10-14 record at home after the Minnesota series leaves a lot to be desired for a team with postseason aspirations.

The defending champs are far from done, folks

Down 7-1 on Saturday against AL Central Division rival Chicago in the ninth inning, the Kansas City Royals decided to remind the baseball world just why they have won two straight AL pennants. All that playoff success began with a crazy wildcard game win over the Oakland Athletics in 2014, where the Royals came back from multiple deficits to win in extra innings. Well, Kansas City didn't need extra innings to win this game.

The Royals scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, 8-7, and by the end of the weekend, they were in first place after winning 10 of their last 13 contests. Yes, Kansas City also lost All-Star third baseman Mike Moustakas for the rest of the season last week, but it would be foolish to count the Royals out of anything right now.

Reds break an 11-game losing streak with late-inning comeback against Brewers

After six innings on Saturday, the Cincinnati Reds looked well on their way to a 12th-straight loss: They were down 6-1 on the road against the Brewers. Five runs later, including three on a HR from Adam Duvall, and the Reds had life again. After Duvall drove in another run two innings later, Cincy suddenly had a 7-6 lead and a chance to win the game if the bullpen could come through in the bottom of the ninth against Milwaukee's 2-3-4 hitters. He may not be Aroldis Chapman—the former Reds closer now pitching for the New York Yankees—but new Cincinnati closer Tony Cingrani picked up his fourth save of the season by striking out the side. In just the space of a few innings, the Reds went from ugly to slightly less ugly with the big comeback victory—and the Cincinnati players could look themselves in the mirror again and smile.

San Diego lives by the walk off, dies by the walk off

After doing it twice in two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers the previous week, the San Diego Padres were the victims of two walk-off wins by the San Francisco Giants last week. First, it was a two-out, lazy floater in the ninth inning from Hunter Pence that sent the Padres to a 1-0 loss when no one could decide whether or not to field the ball, and then two days later, it was a two-out single in the 10th inning from Brandon Crawford that sent San Diego to another one-run loss.

What a difference these two weeks have made for the National League West race: The Dodgers lose two games in the standings because of walk offs, while the Giants gain two games in the standings because of walk offs. San Francisco's NL West Division lead over Los Angeles is now 4.5 games. Who knew that the Padres could have such an impact on the NL West standings?

Sam McPherson is a freelance writer covering baseball, football, basketball, golf and fantasy sports for CBS Local. He also is an Ironman triathlete and certified triathlon coach. Follow him on Twitter @sxmcp, because he's quite prolific despite also being a college English professor and a certified copy editor.

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