MIAMI -- In the Braves’ 9-1 win over the Marlins at loanDepot park Wednesday night, Dominic Smith did something that he had not done in a long time.
After Atlanta began the sixth inning with singles from Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies, Smith stepped in against Janson Junk and battled through a 12-pitch at-bat before sending an 81.4 mph curveball deep to right-center field for a three-run homer.
Smith flied out to left field in each of his previous two at-bats against Junk, and said he made a point to simplify his approach the third time around.
“I know my first at-bat I jumped on the heater early, kind of got myself out, and then, second, I missed the heater,” Smith said. “For me, I was really trying to simplify it. Trying to get a good pitch over the heart of the zone, but [with Olson on] third base with less than two outs, I knew that I didn't have to do much, just hit the ball in the air somewhere and drive the run in.”
Based on those earlier at-bats, Smith was conscious of getting the barrel to the fastball inside and not being late.
“He hung a curveball and I was able to just really ride my swing through it and it left the park,” Smith said. “I think the whole time, my teammates were really setting me up, grinding him down, and that at-bat definitely grinded him down as well.”
At 12 pitches, it was the third-most offerings seen by a Braves player in a plate appearance resulting in a home run since pitch counts began being tracked in 1988. Both Sean Murphy and Jurickson Profar had a 13-pitch home run in 2025.
What's more, Smith became the sixth Braves player in the Divisional Era (since 1969) with an over-the-wall home run and either an inside-the-parker or a Little League home run in the same game, per Elias.
Others on that list:
Fred McGriff, July 27, 1993 (inside-the-park HR)
Andres Thomas, July 18, 1986
Gary Matthews, Sr., May 1, 1979 (inside-the-park HR)
Jeff Burroughs, June 26, 1977
Ivan Murrell, June 18, 1974
“That's one of the most professional at-bats you're gonna see,” said starter (and winning pitcher) Chris Sale after the game.” I don't know how many pitches it was, it seemed like it was 20, just fouling off, battling, battling, battling. And then [he] gets a pitch he can handle and puts it in the seats. That [opened] up the game.”
Smith added another memorable moment in the top of the eighth. He hit a sweeper from Tyler Phillips into right-center field that turned into a Little League home run after Esteury Ruiz collided with Owen Caissie while trying to track the ball down in the gap. Smith rounded second hard before slowing near third, then turned to locate the ball and sprinted home, sliding in safely before remaining on the plate for a few seconds to catch his breath.
The play gave Smith his first triple since 2023.
“When I saw [third-base coach] Tommy [Watkins] waving me around third base, I was pretty shocked,” Smith said. “So I'm glad that we got the W, and yeah, that was definitely some fun.”
By the time Smith returned to the dugout, his teammates were already joking with him about the headfirst slide at home plate after he admitted he ran out of gas.
Smith said he felt much faster in the moment than he looked on video, something his teammates will likely remind him about again and again.
“I looked at my phone, family members are already texting memes of me laid out, [memes of] me running, so it's fun,” Smith said. “When you're winning, funny things like that are okay. I hired a track coach before, so I guess it worked a little bit, but speed is not my attribute.
"I’ll try, though."