In a little more than a century, only four players in Major League Baseball have led off both games of a doubleheader with a home run. Rookie slugger Ronald Acuña is one of ‘em.
The 20-year-old Atlanta Brave belted his homers in two games against the Marlins in Atlanta on Monday after previously homering in contests on Saturday and Sunday against the Brewers too.
Of the three other players (Rickey Henderson, Harry Hooper, and Brady Anderson) to accomplish the feat, two (Henderson and Hooper) are enshrined in Cooperstown.
By virtue of his weekend blasts combined with his Monday bombs, Acuña added his name into the history books yet again by becoming the youngest player in MLB history to homer in four consecutive games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. (Although the record didn’t last; see update below.)
“I just found out,” he said afterward. “I give thanks to God for the opportunity to make history in my own sense.”
In general, Acuña has been on tater tear of late and (as of this writing) has five homers in his last six games, seven in his last 14, 10 in his last 22. Overall, in just 66 MLB games, Acuña has gone yard 17 times, a home run rate of about one every four games.
Considering he missed a month of play with a left knee injury and is only just now rounding back into from, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Acuña to set some more records before his rookie year is over.
Update: That didn’t take long …
Ronald Acuña has now homered in an absurd FIVE (5) straight games @Starting9 pic.twitter.com/HuPFpd0LzP
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 14, 2018
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