NATIONAL LEAGUE

Acuna keeps getting Braves started with a bang

Ronald Acuna Jr. (shown) of the Atlanta Braves became the youngest major league player to homer in five consecutive games, doing it Tuesday night against the Miami Marlins when he hit his third leadoff shot in a row.
Ronald Acuna Jr. (shown) of the Atlanta Braves became the youngest major league player to homer in five consecutive games, doing it Tuesday night against the Miami Marlins when he hit his third leadoff shot in a row.

BRAVES 10, MARLINS 6

ATLANTA -- Ronald Acuna Jr. had a case of the jitters before he stepped in the batter's box for the first time Tuesday night.

He had homered in the leadoff spot twice in a doubleheader the day before, so even Acuna wondered whether it could happen again.

"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."

He didn't stay nervous for long.

Acuna became the youngest player in major league history to homer in five consecutive games, hitting a leadoff shot on the first pitch and adding a three-run long ball in the seventh inning to help the surging Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 10-6.

Freddie Freeman hit his 20th home run to tie it in the sixth, and Dansby Swanson had a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh as the NL East-leading Braves won for the 13th time in 17 games to take a two-game lead over Philadelphia. Atlanta is 16 games over .500 for the first time since winning the division five years ago.

The 20-year-old Acuna homered on Miami's first pitch for the second night in a row and became the first player to hit a leadoff home run in three consecutive games since Baltimore's Brady Anderson went deep in four straight in 1996. On Monday, he became the fourth player in major league history to hit leadoff home runs in both games of a doubleheader.

"You see him smiling," Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte said. "It's contagious what he's doing. He's the best leadoff hitter I've ever seen. He's the best player I've ever seen. Hopefully he's going to continue to help us in the long run."

Acuna went deep to left-center in the first off Trevor Richards and homered to right-center, his 19th of the year, off left-hander Adam Conley to give the Braves a 10-6 lead in the seventh.

"Freddie and I were looking at each other," Manager Brian Snitker said. "He was in the hole, and we were like, 'My God, are we seeing this?' And the explosions when he hit 'em, too. I don't know. It's pretty good."

J.T. Realmuto drove in four runs for Miami, hitting his 15th home run to tie it at 2-2 in the third and lining a two-run single in the fourth to give the Marlins a 5-4 lead.

Acuna, who went 3 for 5 and enjoyed his first multi-home run game, has homered in seven of his past eight games and is hitting .358 with 12 home runs, 25 runs and 24 RBI since moving to the top of the batting order, a stretch of 24 games beginning after the All-Star break.

"We really didn't have much of a conversation about it," the rookie said. "I just showed up one day and saw my name in the leadoff spot. I didn't think that much about it."

BREWERS 7, CUBS 0 Ryan Braun hit two of Milwaukee's four home runs, Jhoulys Chacin struck out 10 in seven innings and the Brewers cut into Chicago's NL Central lead with a victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

CARDINALS 6, NATIONALS 4 John Gant homered for his first major-league hit and pitched one-run ball into the sixth inning, helping St. Louis win its seventh game in a row by dispatching of Washington. Kolten Wong had three hits and three RBI for the Cardinals.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

YANKEES 4, RAYS 1 J.A. Happ allowed one soft single in seven shutout innings to win his third consecutive start since joining the New York Yankees, who beat Tampa Bay at home. Austin Romine hit a two-run home run to help New York improve to 7-2 since getting swept in four games at Boston earlier this month.

WHITE SOX 6, TIGERS 3 Ryan LaMarre hit his first major-league home run as Chicago beat the Tigers.

BLUE JAYS 6, ROYALS 5 Kevin Pillar hit a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning to lift Toronto over Kansas City.

INTERLEAGUE

RED SOX 2, PHILLIES 1 Pinch-hitter Brock Holt hit a tiebreaking solo home run, Rick Porcello threw seven impressive innings and the major league-leading Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies. Sandy Leon also went deep for Boston, which improved to 86-35.

ORIOLES 6, METS 3 Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Tim Beckham each homered to back a strong performance by starter Andrew Cashner, as Baltimore snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Mets at home.

INDIANS 8, REDS 1 Jose Ramirez hit his 36th home run and Corey Kluber extended his dominance of Cincinnati as Cleveland rolled on the road. Kluber (15-6) allowed 1 run and 5 hits and struck out 7 in 7 innings for his fourth consecutive win against the Reds.

DIAMONDBACKS 6, RANGERS 4 Paul Goldschmidt hit his 27th home run to put Arizona ahead to stay, All-Star lefty Patrick Corbin worked seven innings for his 10th victory, and the NL West-leading Diamondbacks beat Texas on the road.

ROCKIES 5, ASTROS 1 Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story each went deep, German Marquez pitched well in a clash with Justin Verlander, and Colorado handed Houston its fifth consecutive loss.

TWINS 5, PIRATES 2 Jorge Polanco got two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs to lead Minnesota over Pittsburgh.

Sports on 08/15/2018

Upcoming Events