Double duty: Acuna homers leading off both games of DH
ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. has pulled off an exceedingly rare baseball feat, hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader for the Atlanta Braves.
The 20-year-old rookie hit an opposite-field drive into the Braves bullpen off Miami's Pablo Lopez in the first game, powering Atlanta to a 9-1 victory over the Marlins.
Acuna sent another one into the seats in left-center to start the nightcap against Merandy Gonzalez, who was making his first major league start.
Acuna may 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, went on to the Hall of Fame.
The Elias Sports Bureau says Baltimore's Brady Anderson pulled off the rare double during a home doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 21, 1999. Before that, it was accomplished by Oakland's Henderson at home against the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1993, and Hooper while playing for the Boston Red on May 20, 1913, during a pair of games at the Washington Senators.
Acuna has 17 homers this season, four of them leading off games.
