Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. eliminated Max Scherzer from the first pitch of the season – and the national team’s first pitch of the year – on Tuesday afternoon at Nationals Park.
Homerun was Acuña’s 20th starting game as a leader shot and he clearly enjoyed it. He led the bases in 28.1 seconds, the slowest trot with a home run so far this season. Only George Springer (21 years old) has more at home, starting with his Venezuelan debut in 2018.
Freddie Freeman, NL’s vice president, didn’t give Scherzer time to recover, hitting another lone round that brought the Braves 2-0 up in the first half.
After another run home from the Braves, from Dansby Swanson, Acuna took her out in front of Scherzer again.
After leading the National League with a home maneuver for every 11.43 bat-bat in 2020, Acuña returned to power this year. The first homer of the La Sabana native walked at 107.9 miles per hour and had a projected distance of 416 feet, according to Statcast. Acuño’s second dash had a muzzle speed of 105.0 mph and a distance of 423 feet.