Braves’ all-star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. homered off Max Scherzer from the first pitch of the season – and the first pitch of the year for the Nationals – on Tuesday-afternoon at Nationals Park.
The homerun was Acuña’s 20th starting game as lead hitter and he clearly enjoyed it. He walked base in 28.1 seconds, the slowest trot homerun to date this season. Only George Springer (21) has more home runs for home runs since the Venezuelan made his debut in 2018.
Reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman gave Scherzer no time to recover and hit another solo-homerun that gave the Braves 2-0 in the first inning.
After another homerun by the Braves, from Dansby Swanson, Acuna lashed out for Scherzer again.
After leading the National League with one home run for every 11.43 at-bats in 2020, Acuña has come back to power this year. The La Sabana native’s first homer went at 107.9 miles per hour, according to Statcast, and had an expected distance of 416 feet. Acuño’s second dash had a muzzle velocity of 105.0 mph and a range of 423 feet.