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Maddon: HR increase in MLB is 'extraterrestrial'

Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images Sport / Getty

After witnessing a strange home-run occurrence at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon believes the increased amount of long balls across the league is from another world.

"I don't know what I'm witnessing, but the way the ball is coming off the bat right now is extraterrestrial," Maddon said after the Cubs defeated the Chicago White Sox, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "It's an E.T. thing going on out there. It's crazy. This is my fifth year (with the Cubs), and I know what I've seen. Whenever the wind is blowing in like that, you don't see that. You don't see that."

The Cubs and White Sox combined to hit five home runs in the contest, with all of them happening during the first four innings of the game. They managed to do it with winds gusting in toward the playing field at 7 mph.

Combine that with some light rain and cooler temperatures and Wednesday's game was supposed to be to the pitchers' advantage. White Sox starter Lucas Giolito, who entered the contest with a 2.22 ERA and five home runs allowed, gave up three bombs.

"I got hit hard. That was the hardest I've been hit in a long time," Giolito said, according to MLB.com's Scott Merkin.

MLB is on a record-setting pace for home runs in a single season. The league had hit a combined 3,003 by end of day Wednesday. The record stands at a combined 6,105 homers, set in 2017.

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