Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna collects his 700th career RBI
Marcell Ozuna had a clutch RBI in the four-run sixth inning to tie the game versus the New York Mets, as well as adding a 8th inning insurance run to secure the 6-4 victory in the series opener.
For Ozuna, they were the 700th and 701st RBIs of his career, accomplished in 1208 career games.
"It feels amazing" Ozuna said after the game, acknowledging his early season struggles. To open the season, he started off 5-59 with only two RBIs and eighteen strikeouts.
A May 2nd-4th series in his hometown of Miami, against the Marlins team that signed him as an international free agent, seemed to be the catalyst for "Marcell May" - he went 6-13 in the series, with three homeruns (including a grand slam) and six RBIs, while walking twice and only striking out twice.
Since that Miami series, Ozuna is batting .313/.382/.626 with nine homeruns, twenty-three RBIs, and only twenty-two strikeouts in the twenty-seven games since.
The decision to stick with Ozuna - no easy task when so many in Braves Country wanted to write him off and just eat the $32M left on his contract - has shown that Brian Snitker has the pulse of this team better than most of us.
“He’s never given up on himself. He works hard,” Snitker said after Tuesday's game. “You know it’s in there; you’ve seen it — in ’20 he had an MVP(-type) season. So yeah, it’s good to see the hard work pays off.”
See Ozuna's full postgame comments below:
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