Braves’ Acuna hits pair of leadoff homers

ATLANTA — Ronald Acuna Jr. pulled off one of the rarest feats in baseball history, hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader to lead the first-place Atlanta Braves to a sweep of the Miami Marlins on Monday.

The 20-year-old rookie hit an opposite-field drive into the Braves’ bullpen in Game 1, powering Atlanta to a 9-1 victory. Haitian-American Touki Toussaint pitched six strong innings to claim the win in his major league debut.

It was more of the same from Acuna in the nightcap. He sent a towering shot into the seats in left-center, sparking the Braves to a 6-1 win behind another strong outing on the mound from Mike Foltynewicz.

Acuna appeared to be only the fourth player in baseball history to hit a pair of leadoff homers in a doubleheader. Two others, Rickey Henderson and Harry Hooper, are in the Hall of Fame.

The Elias Sports Bureau said Baltimore’s Brady Anderson was the last to pull off the rare double during a home doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 21, 1999.

METS 8, YANKEES 5: Jacob deGrom struck out 12 and the Mets hit five home runs to batter Luis Severino and the Yankees. Amed Rosario led off this Subway Series matchup with a drive into the right-field seats and Jose Bautista, Todd Frazier, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto later connected.