Throwing anything remotely hittable to Alfredo Duno over the past two weeks is quite possibly the worst decision an opposing hurler can make.
Cincinnati's No. 1 prospect went deep twice -- giving him homers in three consecutive games for the second time in a week and a half -- and drove in a season-high five runs during High-A Dayton's 22-8 rout of Fort Wayne on Wednesday night at Parkview Field.
Duno reached base five times thanks to a personal-best three walks and scored four times for the Dragons, who have been the beneficiary of a torrid offensive stretch by their backstop since the calendar flipped to May.
It was the first multihomer game of 2026 for MLB.com's No. 26 prospect and his third as a pro.
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Duno walked in each of his first three plate appearances before unloading on his first roundtripper of the night, a two-run clout to left-center field off right-hander Ty Adcock (Padres) in the fifth. That stamped the 20-year-old's second three-game home run streak of the season and the third of his career.
In addition to his recent spree May 10-12, Duno also reached the seats in three consecutive games last Aug. 20-22 for Single-A Daytona.
MLB's No. 2 catching prospect added a no-doubt, three-run moonshot in the eighth off righty Jeferson Villabona that cleared the left-field bleachers for his sixth dinger in seven games. For context, the Venezuela native left the yard twice in his first 125 plate appearances this season.
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Duno's scorching May started inauspiciously with an 0-fer that dropped his average to .203 and his OPS to .676. But he rattled off four straight multihit games as part of an ongoing 12-game hitting streak that has hiked Duno's average 87 points to .290 and his OPS to .994.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder is slashing .408/.532/.898 this month with seven dingers and 15 RBIs in 13 games.
Duno is following an eerily similar pattern to his breakout 2025 campaign in which he struggled early only to heat up as the season went on. Despite homering just four times in April and May last year, the right-handed slugger finished with career highs across the board at Daytona.
Duno led the Florida State League in virtually every primary offensive category, including homers (18), RBIs (81), OBP (.430), slugging (.518) and OPS (.948). That he did so at age 19 and with just 32 games of stateside experience during an injury-plagued 2024 campaign made his performance all the more impressive.