Duvall's record-tying night leads hit parade

April 14th, 2021

After another historic night at Truist Park, it's safe to say that feels right at home in Atlanta. He tied a club record with seven RBIs as he led the Marlins to a commanding 14-8 win over the Braves.

The Marlins signed Duvall, who played with the Braves from 2018-2020, in the offseason to add power to their lineup, and he has not disappointed in his return to his former home park. Duvall came into this series with just three hits in his 22 plate appearances, which forced manager Don Mattingly to move the outfielder from the cleanup spot in the lineup down to the No. 5 spot.

“It’s just a matter of time if you just keep going out there, keep swinging and keep working, things happen,” said Duvall. “I was seeing the ball well and I felt like I was in control at the plate, so that’s a good feeling.”

Duvall felt right at home in Truist Park on Tuesday as he put on a show, going 4-for-5 with seven RBIs and two home runs.

“Excruciating is what it was like,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said with a laugh. “I wish he would have done it against somebody else. We’ve seen him do that here with the year we had last year. I mean, it can come in bunches for him. We didn’t pitch him good at all.”

Duvall is now the sixth Marlin with seven RBIs in a game, and the first since Brian Anderson had seven against the Nationals on Sept. 18 of last year. He is no stranger to making history in Atlanta. It was on Sept. 9 of last year when Duvall tied a Braves club record with nine RBIs in a 29-9 rout of the Marlins at Truist Park. He posted a .938 OPS at home in 2020, and also homered in Monday’s win against Atlanta.

“He gives us our power guy in the middle of that order, you know, and obviously [he] played here last year and he’s probably comfortable in this ballpark as much as anything,” said Mattingly.

With this incredible stat line on Tuesday, Duvall joins elite company as he and Alex Rodriguez are the only two players since 1954 to have multiple games with seven RBIs, two home runs and four runs scored in a game.

“Anybody can get a slow start, anybody can get cold at some point. We have all the confidence in the world that this lineup is going to be a force because we know these guys played for a long time and we’re not going to evaluate them just for a week or 10 days into a season,” said infielder Miguel Rojas. “We gotta give them some time to get comfortable and you see the results. I’m happy for the way we started swinging the bats and happy for Duvall because I know how hard he’s been working.”

Through the first two innings, this game was shaping up to be another thriller at Truist Park as the Braves jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning. The Marlins answered back with three runs in the top of the second, and took their first lead of the game in the third inning when Duvall hit a 447-foot bomb off Braves left-hander Max Fried to put the Marlins ahead 4-3.

Through the first week of the season, the Marlins were primarily led by Starling Marte and Jesús Aguilar. After a rough 0-4 start to the season on Opening Day, Marte has done a complete 180 and reached base safely for the ninth straight game on Tuesday. He is now 13-for-38 with four walks on the season. Aguilar is also on a streak of his own, this one dating back to 2020. In each of his last 16 regular-season games, Aguilar has reached base safely, which is the longest such stretch of his career.

With the Marlins finding their offense in Atlanta, Rojas stated how the club just has to “stay the same team” if it wants to keep this momentum going. Luckily for the Marlins, their bullpen has been a thing of beauty.

Pablo López got the start for Miami and finished the game with nine hits and six runs allowed, notching six strikeouts in four innings pitched. A combined bullpen effort from John Curtiss, Ross Detwiler, Anthony Bass, Zach Pop, Paul Campbell and Richard Bleier held the Braves' offense the rest of the way to two hits and two runs with six strikeouts, matching López’s own strikeout total.

The Marlins came into the series as the 21st-ranked offense in the Majors, but after putting up 14 runs in a game started by Atlanta’s ace, Miami’s bats seem to be finding their stride.