ATLANTA -- Ronald Acuña Jr. has homered off plenty of Marlins pitchers. But one that he’ll never forget is the home run he hit -- literally -- off a pair of Miami outfielders in an 11-3 win on Thursday night at Truist Park.
Acuña’s eighth-inning homer barely cleared the right-field wall. The other, which came in the third inning, will likely be seen on highlight and blooper videos for many years to come. He now has 16 career multihomer games, four of which have come against Miami.
“The second one was special, because the first one told me I needed help,” Acuña said.
Janson Junk surrendered the wacky two-run homer, but an assist could be given to both center fielder Esteury Ruiz and left fielder Heriberto Hernández, whose collision on the left-center-field warning track caused the ball to hit off their gloves and clear the outfield wall.
"When I saw the ball, I thought it was leaving the ballpark,” Ruiz said through an interpreter. “While I was running, I noticed it was going to stay on the field. I said, 'I got it,' and you can see in the video that [Hernández] also said, 'I got it.' But we couldn't hear each other with the noise of the ballpark. We couldn't hear each other."
Acuña's fortunate home run was further proof that everything is bouncing right for the Braves, who have won eight straight and 15 of 20 since the All-Star break. They concluded their three-game sweep of the Fish with an 8 1/2-game lead in the National League East.
When Acuña connected with Junk’s sweeper, he took a few steps out of the box, casually discarded his bat and jogged slowly toward first base and stopped at the bag, seemingly thinking the ball had been caught.
What Acuña didn’t see was that the outfielders’ collision resulted in a home run. The ball hit Hernández’s glove just before Ruiz collided with his left fielder, causing the ball to bounce into the first row of seats beyond the left-center-field wall.
"Both guys racing after it, both running a long way, both wanting to make a play on the ball," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "It's tough sometimes, those are the ones that are hardest to communicate with. It's really hard to take your eyes off and try to find the other guy as you're running there. And you know what, they both go up and I'm not even sure who got a glove on it, or both had a part in it. It's unfortunate that it ended up not being an out and turning into a homer."
“[Acuña] had a little angel on his shoulder tonight, or something,” first baseman Matt Olson said.
Acuña may have benefited from some lack of familiarity between the outfielders.
With left-handed starter Martín Pérez on the mound, the Marlins went with their right-handed-heavy lineup. So rather than play Jakob Marsee, who has started in center for 100 of the club's 116 games, Miami went with Ruiz as the captain of the outfield and Hernández in left. That duo has played side by side just 11 times this season.
The Marlins now share the distinction of having surrendered the most home runs (28) to Acuña. The Braves' right fielder has routinely tortured Miami, producing a 1.048 OPS in 103 career games against them.
Acuña’s first home run was hit just before rain delayed the start of the fourth inning. Pérez faced the minimum through the first three innings, but was forced to exit after the one-hour, 24-minute delay.
Pérez’s effort was further backed by a four-run sixth inning that began with Olson’s 32nd home run of the season. He has hit 12 homers in his past 30 games, but none were as unique as Acuña’s first.
“Yeah, [Acuña] got a little help there,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “But he’s swinging the bat good. He’s hit some balls hard. The second homer didn't go all that far. But he's just got that ability to go to the opposite field. Even when he doesn't click it real good, it can still go.”
When asked about the assisted home run, both Weiss and Olson mentioned how well Acuña is swinging the bat. The 2023 NL MVP has hit just .205 (8-for-39) with a .792 OPS in the 10 games he has played since missing six weeks with his second left hamstring pull of the season.
But he has homered in four of his past 28 at-bats, and four of the five balls he put in play on Thursday had an exit velocity of 97.3 mph or higher.
“It’s good to have him back at the top of the lineup swinging like this,” Olson said.