Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. (26) will attempt to become the fifth player in franchise history to record 40 home runs and 40 doubles and the first to record 40 home runs and 60 doubles.
Acuña Jr. started in right field and went 2-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday (Aug. 8) at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Atlanta went on to win 8-5 behind Aquino’s performance.
Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Acuña Jr. took an 85.6-mile-per-hour fastball from St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright for a solo home run over the center field wall. It was his 33rd home run of the season, a monster blast that hit 115.3 mph (185.6 km/h) and traveled 426 feet (130 meters).
In the top of the sixth inning, Aquino Jr. again took advantage of Wainwright’s fastball. He lifted a 71.3-mph (114.7-kilometer) curveball over the center field wall for a solo home run. It was his 34th home run of the season, clocking in at 103 mph (165.8 km/h) and traveling 406 feet (124 meters).
The multi-homer hitter is batting .565 (187-for-565) with 34 home runs, 88 RBIs and a .990 OPS in 139 games this season. He needs just six more home runs to become just the fifth player in history to reach 40 home runs and 40 RBI.
“With Atlanta hosting a home run extravaganza, Aquino Jr. showed why he could truly join the 40-40 club and become one of the most special players in baseball,” said MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball.
“I’ve been playing with Akuña since 2016,” said Max Fried, who started the game. And now this performance doesn’t surprise me at all anymore. He’s talented. And he’s a good player. He is capable of performing like this, but it took him a long time to really put together a season like this, and now the record is in front of him. It’s not a surprise to me, but at the same time it’s really impressive,” he said, admiring the performance of Acuña Jr.
In Major League Baseball history, only Jose Canseco (42 home runs and 40 doubles) in 1988, Barry Bonds (42 home runs and 40 doubles) in 1996, Alex Rodriguez (42 home runs and 46 doubles) in 1998, and Alfonso Soriano (46 home runs and 41 doubles) in 2006. And none of them have ever stolen more than 50 bases. However, Acuña Jr. already has 63 stolen bases. If he hits 40 homers, he’ll not only become the fifth player in history to hit 40 homers and 40 steals, but he’ll also become the first player in history to hit 40 homers and 60 steals, and possibly even 40 homers and 70 steals.
“Anything is possible,” said a confident Acuña Jr. “I never set a goal for (40-40). But now it’s right in front of me, and that’s a good thing. But the season is coming to an end. I still have quite a few home runs left. It’s getting tighter and tighter and time is going by fast.” 온라인카지노
MLB.com asks, “Can Aquino hit six home runs in his remaining 23 games, or will he have one more performance like the first seven? In 2019, Aquino hit 12 homers in a 23-game stretch from July 22 to Aug. 16. And this year, he hit nine homers in 23 games from June 11 to July 6,” he said.