Just before 8:14 p.m. on Tuesday, Alex Gordon stepped to the plate at Rogers Centre in the top of the sixth inning and hit a baseball that soared over the wall in right-center field. On any other night, in any other moment in baseball history, the homer would have meant nothing.
A footnote in the Royals’ 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on the first night of a three-game series. A number in a box score that described the latest frustrating result. A lone bright moment as a team stumbled to the finish line, falling further and further from contention with 12 games to play.