Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. hit two home runs, one of them to lead off the game on the first pitch, sending the Atlanta Braves to a 10-6 win over the visiting Miami Marlins on Tuesday at Sun Trust Park.
Acuna hit a leadoff home run for the third straight game, and he became the youngest player in baseball history to go deep in five consecutive games.
Acuna, 20 years, 239 days old, already had become the youngest player ever to homer four games in a row, accomplishing that feat when he blasted long balls to open both ends of a Monday doubleheader against the Marlins.
The Venezuelan phenom was 3-for-5 with four RBIs. He has four homers and nine RBIs in the first three games of the series against Miami. Acuna has 19 homers in his rookie season, including eight in his past eight games.
“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hit another home run like that,” he said through a translator. “At first I laughed a lot, but then I got nervous again.”
His second homer of Tuesday’s game, a three-run shot, came in the seventh against Adam Conley (3-3). Atlanta had taken the lead two batters earlier on Dansby Swanson’s RBI single.
The winning pitcher was Jesse Biddle (4-1), who worked two innings, allowing one run and three hits and striking out four. Jonny Venters and A.J. Minter finished the game with one scoreless inning apiece.
The Braves have won four in a row. They improved to 11-3 against Miami and 39-19 against the National League East, which Atlanta leads by two games over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies.
Charlie Culberson added a solo homer, his ninth, immediately after Acuna’s leadoff shot in the first, the back-to-back home runs giving the Braves a 2-0 lead.
Miami tied the game in the third on a two-run shot by J.T. Realmuto, his 15th.
Atlanta responded by scoring twice in the bottom of the third on Johan Camargo’s RBI single and an RBI triple by Ender Inciarte. The Marlins scored three times in the fourth to grab a 5-4 lead. Rafael Ortega doubled in the first run, and Realmuto added a two-run single.
Atlanta tied the game 5-5 on Kurt Suzuki’s RBI single in the bottom half of the fourth, but the Marlins regained the lead in the sixth when Christopher Bostick doubled home a run.
The Braves tied the game in the sixth when Freddie Freeman ripped his 20th homer with two outs off the left-hander Conley.
Neither starting pitcher figured in the decision. Miami’s Trevor Richards was knocked out after 4 1/3 innings, during which he allowed five runs on 10 hits and two walks. He struck out three.
Atlanta’s Anibal Sanchez, making his first start since sustaining a thigh bruise after being struck by a liner in his prior outing Thursday against Washington, worked five innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits and two walks. Sanchez struck out six.
Holt’s PH homer gets win for Porcello, Red Sox over Phillies
Brock Holt, pinch-hitting for right-hander Rick Porcello, made the starting pitcher a winner Tuesday night by hitting the tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning as the visiting Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 in the opener of a two-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park.
The scorching Red Sox (86-35) have won five in a row and 11 of 12. Boston is on pace for 115 wins, one shy of the single-season record shared by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Philadelphia (65-53) has lost four of five. The Phillies, who are two games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, fell into sole possession of the second wild card in the NL, one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers.
Porcello (15-5) allowed just one run on two hits and no walks while striking out 10 over seven innings. It was an impressive bounce-back for the 29-year-old right-hander, who gave up seven runs over four innings in taking the loss against the Toronto Blue Jays in his previous outing last Thursday. On Tuesday, Porcello retired the first 12 batters he faced before Rhys Hoskins homered leading off the fifth. Odubel Herrera singled two outs later before Porcello retired the final seven batters he faced.