KEVIN MACALPIN
680 THE FAN, ATLANTA – Wednesday night, Adam Duvall and Marcell Ozuna became the answer to a trivia question as they became the first pair of teammates to have three homer performances in back-to-back contests. In 151 years of Major League Baseball, the feat had never been accomplished, which is truly mind boggling. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the feat had only ever happened once in which teammates each had three homer games on consecutive days. You’ve got to go back 90 years to May 21 and 22, 1930 when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig each had three homer outburst, but came over the span of a pair of doubleheaders. “Wow, that’s pretty neat” Duvall said following
Wednesday’s 7-5 win. Over the course of the three game set in Boston, Duvall and Ozuna carried the Atlanta offense to the tune of a 10-for-26 series with 8 home runs. Neither of those stats are typos. Believe me, I triple checked! Ozuna’s fourth of the series came in the top of the seventh as he broke a 5-5 tie with his 12th homer of the year, placing him one off Fernando Tatis Jr’s National League lead.
“I’m happy for him. He’s one of those guys, he’s kind of up and down, grinding and has a knack of getting a big hit. He’s an easy guy to pull for” Brian Snitker said from the Fenway Park visitors clubhouse on Wednesday. Duvall was probably a guy that wasn’t even on most Braves fans radar coming into the new season. He spent the majority of the 2019 season at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he hit 20 doubles, four triples and 32 homers, while driving in 93 runs. At the Big League level, he contributed ten homers in 41 contests with the club last season. But going into the offseason, it would’ve been really easy for Alex Anthopoulos to go in a different direction. Move on from the 31 year old and go younger with one of the top outfield prospects like Cristian Pache or Drew Waters. But they didn’t. And the team is all the better for it.
The Braves arrived home around 3:30 this morning, have tonight off and turn their attention to the last place Nationals who come to town for four starting with a twin bill on Friday.
Kevin McAlpin has covered the Braves since 2012 for @680TheFan and the @BravesRadioNet.
