[Westside]

Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton homered in the fifth inning of Miami's 7-2 loss to the Nationals on Monday night, his major league-leading 53rd home run of the season.

Stanton connected on an elevated 96 mph fastball off Washington's A.J. Cole and sent the ball into the right-field stands, denting a TV camera along the way.

The cameraman kept working with the damaged camera, and eventually the housing was taken off the apparatus for some repairs, as seen in this Twitter photo courtesy of AP reporter Tim Reynolds:


"We seem a little tired,'' said Stanton, who didn't know the homer hit the camera until he was informed postgame.

Stanton's 53 home runs are the most hit by anyone since Baltimore's Chris Davis had 53 in 2013 and the most by a National League player since Ryan Howard had 58 in 2006.

Monday's homer pulled Stanton even with Roger Maris' pace. Maris also had 53 home runs through 135 games in 1961, when he broke Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. Stanton is two ahead of Ruth's pace.

Stanton has 20 home runs in his past 31 games.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20581...-run-no-53