On-fire rookie Acuna makes more home run history
ATLANTA: 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.
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.
The Venezuelan phenom was 3-for-5 with four RBIs. He has 19 homers in his rookie season, including eight in his past eight 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 Braves have won four in a row. They improved to 11-3 against Miami and 39-19 against the National League East, which Atlanta lead by two games over the secondplace Philadelphia Phillies.
Brock Holt, pinch-hitting for righthander Rick Porcello, made the starting pitcher a winner by hitting the tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning as visiting Boston beat Philadelphia 2-1 in the opener of a two-game inter-league series.
The scorching Red Sox have won five in a row and 11 of 12. Boston are on pace for 115 wins, one shy of the single-season record shared by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Philadelphia have lost four of five. The Phillies fell into sole possession of the second wild card in the NL, one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers.
Kolten Wong homered and had three RBIs to back the solid pitching of John Gant, who also hit a home run for his first career hit, as hosts St Louis handled Washington 6-4 at Busch Stadium.
The victory was the seventh in a row and ninth in the last 10 games for the Cardinals, who are now a season-best 10 games over .500. St Louis has scored six or more runs in their past six games.
Meanwhile, stumbling Washington have lost three straight and four of their past five games and have fallen back to .500.
Nolan Arenado clubbed his 30th home run, and the visiting Colorado extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-1 victory at Houston.
Arenado, starting as the designated hitter because of his sore right shoulder, drilled a 154kph fastball from Justin Verlander (11-8) the opposite way to right field with one on and two outs in the sixth inning.
The struggling Astros had claimed a 1-0 lead a half-inning earlier only to surrender it in short order and extend their home losing skid to nine games.