Gordon hits MLB’s record-setting homer

Kansas City’s Alex Gordon hit Major League Baseball’s record 5,694th home run of 2017, breaking the season mark.

Gordon’s home run off Toronto’s Ryan Tepera on Tuesday night raised the total to one more than the 5,693 set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. The record was broken with just less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.

There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s average of 2.53 entering Tuesday’s action projects to 6,139. That would be up 47 percent from 4,186 in 2014.

Power subsided after the start of drug testing with penalties in 2004. The home run average dropped in 2014 to its lowest level since 1992, then started rising

during the second half of the 2015 season.

SEVERINO MOVED UP >> Luis Severino was moved up two days by the Yankees and is scheduled to start today against Minnesota. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the move was made to give Severino three more regular-season starts as New York tries to overtake Boston in the AL East. A 23-year-old right-hander, Severino is 13-6 with a 2.93 ERA in 29 starts this season, and has not allowed more than one earned run in nine of 12 outings since the All-Star break. WAINWRIGHT ACTIVATED >> The Cardinals activated right-hander Adam Wainwright from the 10-day disabled list. Wainwright, 36, has been sidelined by a right elbow impingement. Manager Mike Matheny says he will pitch of the bullpen.