August 11, 2023, will go down in history as the day Myles Straw broke his home run drought.
With one out in the eighth inning and Jason Adam on the mound, Straw took a first-pitch four-seam fastball and deposited it into the stands in left field, before taking his first home run trot around the bases since August 26, 2021 — a stretch of 1,160 homer-less plate appearances.
If you can believe it, Straw’s home run was not even the most bizarre aspect of the Cleveland Guardians’ 9-8 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, in a game that saw the Guardians rally from a three-run deficit in the ninth inning only to lose on a walk-off Wander Franco solo home run.