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 was apparently only the third player in baseball history to hit a pair of leadoff homers in a doubleheader. The other two went on to the Hall of Fame.
The Elias Sports Bureau says Oakland’s Rickey Henderson was the last to do it during a home doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1993. The only other player known to accomplish the feat was Harry Hooper of the Boston Red Sox on May 20, 1913, at the Washington Senators.
Acuna has 17 homers this season, four of them leading off games.
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