CINCINNATI – It didn’t take long for Ronald Acuña Jr. to continue his power ball explosion of the last week.
One pitch, to be specific.
Acuña mashed Nick Lodolo’s first pitch Sunday a StatCast-projected 438 feet off the message board facade in deep left-center at Great American Ball Park for his seventh home run of the season, his fourth of the series and his fifth in the last four games to stake the Braves to a 1-0 lead.
It was the second home run in as many pitches seen by Acuña, as he homered in his final at-bat in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Cincinnati, a game that featured a pair of Acuña long balls.
Acuña's home run off Lodolo’s 95 mph fastball on the outside corner left the bat at an estimated 112 mph, and marked the 39th leadoff homer of his career, and second in three days.
Acuña has homered in at least four straight games for the fourth time in his career, and the first time since May 14-17, 2023. He homered in a career-high five straight in his rookie season, Aug. 11-14, 2018.
He's also just the fourth player since the modern stolen bases rule was adopted (1898) to hit five HRs and steal four bases in a four-game span (2024 Shohei Ohtani, 1987 Eric Davis, 1958 Willie Mays). Acuña's four walks in the span are the most of any player on the list.
Acuña had missed 12 games earlier this season with a strained left hamstring, returning to the lineup on May 18. Before his first home run of this latest spree on Thursday -- a grand slam at Fenway Park -- he had not gone deep since April 24.
“I’m feeling better and better every day,” Acuña said after Saturday's game. “I’m working with my hitting coach and the coaching staff in the cage. Baseball is the process. Sometimes you feel good, but you don’t have the results. Now I see the results.”