Pitcher Jon Lester homers 419 feet to put himself in rare company

At 37 years old, Washington Nationals pitcher Jon Lester put himself in rare company with a 419-foot home run against the Miami Marlins.

The Washington Nationals unleashed a scoring barrage against the Miami Marlins on Monday. Among the night’s home run hitters was pitcher Jon Lester.

A 419-footer might be a talking point in the game, even accounting for Trea Turner’s 428-footer to left field or Josh Bell’s towering 446-foot blast.

However, Lester is a pitcher. He’s also 37 years old. So that fourth career homer means something more.

Lester is now the oldest pitcher to hit a home run since Bartolo Colon did it in 2016 at the age of 42, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Nationals pitcher Jon Lester can do damage from the plate too

Fascinatingly, Lester has now hit a home run in each of his last four seasons. He didn’t play in 2020 but hit one homer in 2017, 2018 and 2019 with the Chicago Cubs. He had no home runs in his first decade in the league playing for the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s.

The two-run home run on Monday put the Nationals up 12-0 in the fifth inning. The pitcher had already made it on base and scored in the second inning.

On the mound, Lester went seven innings, striking out seven while allowing no runs. It was arguably his strongest appearance of the season so far. He went into the game against the Marlins with a 7-7 record and an ERA of 5.54.

The fourth-place Nationals needed a bounce-back after a rough stretch. They lost six in a row before their game with the San Diego Padres was halted because of a shooting outside the stadium. They came back the next day and achieved a walk-off win. The outing against Miami was even more emphatic, with 18 unanswered runs through seven innings.