The Brave star of the field, the Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr., connected a home run to Max Scherzer before the first pitching of the season of the mound – and the first release of the year of the Nationals – Tuesday afternoon at Nationals Park.
Bambinazo was the 20th of Acuña opening games as the first bat and clearly enjoyed it. He ran the bases at 28.1 seconds, being the slowest trot with a home run so far this season. Only George Springer (21) has more home runs opening games since the Venezuelan made his debut in 2018.
Current National League Most Valuable Player Freddie Freeman didn’t have time for Scherzer to recover, connecting another lone homer that put the Braves up 2-0 in the first inning.
After another home run by the Braves, by Dansby Swanson, Acuña took it out again against Scherzer.
After leading the National League with a home run for every 11.43 laps in 2020, Acuña has returned with his power this year. The Savannah’s first bambinazo came out at 107.9 miles per hour and had a projected distance of 416 feet, according to Statcast. Falco’s second board had an output speed of 105.0 mph and a distance of 423 feet.