Minnesota Twins' Mitch Garver is greeted by first base coach Tommy Watkins after a solo home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, in Detroit. Garver's home run was the Twins 268th home run of this season, a MLB record for most home runs by a team in a single season. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Minnesota Twins' Mitch Garver is greeted by first base coach Tommy Watkins after a solo home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, in Detroit. Garver's home run was the Twins 268th home run of this season, a MLB record for most home runs by a team in a single season. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Credit: Carlos Osorio

It’s no surprise that someone set a home run record this year.

What’s remarkable is who did it.

The Minnesota Twins — who haven’t led the majors in homers since the days of Harmon Killebrew — are now at 269 and counting. They surpassed the record set by last year’s New York Yankees on Saturday night, when they hit six in a loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Those Tigers are managed by Ron Gardenhire, who managed the Twins back when they had a much different reputation offensively. In 2006, for example, Gardenhire managed Minnesota to 96 victories and a division title. The Twins finished 28th in the majors in home runs that year.

The Twins haven’t led the majors in home runs since 1964, and they haven’t even finished in the top 10 since 1991, when they won the second of two World Series titles in five years.

The Twins have a chance to break up an AL East monopoly on the home run lead. The Yankees, Orioles and Blue Jays are the only teams to lead the majors over the past 10 years.

The Yankees are in second place now, 13 homers behind Minnesota.

Elsewhere around the majors:

Hanging in

The Oakland Athletics entered Monday a half-game out of the second wild card in the American League — and that’s after a 16-game stretch that included 10 against the Astros and Yankees. Oakland went 7-3 in those games against the AL’s top two teams.

Highlights

The Yankees might have as many home runs as the Twins if Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge had played more. Even so, New York has been getting homers from unexpected sources. Mike Ford, who went undrafted out of Princeton and made his big league debut in April at age 26, hit a game-winning homer Sunday against Oakland. That came a day after DJ LeMahieu beat the A’s with a homer of his own.

LINE OF THE WEEK

Just when it seemed that no-hitters were becoming multipitcher affairs, Justin Verlander threw one all by himself Sunday in a 2-0 win at Toronto. The Houston right-hander became one of six players with at least three no-hitters. He struck out 14.

Honorable mention: It wasn’t the most effective outing — one run and two hits in one inning — but Carlos Carrasco’s relief appearance for Cleveland on Sunday at Tampa Bay was a feel-good story for the Indians after he was diagnosed with leukemia earlier in the year. It was his first appearance for Cleveland since May.

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Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister

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