Ronald Acuna hits 495-foot bomb
The sight of Ronald Acuna, Jr. hitting long home runs will likely never get old for Atlanta Braves fans. And on Friday, he provided one of his longest home runs of his brief career.
The home run in the first inning to lead off the game for the Braves went 495 feet, the longest home run by a Braves player tracked by Statcast (since 2015) and it tied for the 5th-longest home run by any player in the last five years.
It was also the longest home run tracked in 2020.
Acuna now has 14 home runs and 29 RBI in 153 at-bats. In the 27 games since returning from missing two weeks with an injury, Acuna has hit 10 home runs and driven in 20 runs in 87 at-bats.
Acuna's home run was the fourth leadoff home run of the season. He has 19 career leadoff home runs, most in Braves history.
The Braves (34-23) are trying to clinch the second seed in the National League playoffs with a win tonight over the Boston Red Sox (22-35). Any win by Atlanta or any loss by the Chicago Cubs will give the Braves the second-best record in the NL and the second seed.
Atlanta clinched the NL East Wednesday for their third straight division championship. They will likely have to wait until Sunday to find out who they will play in the first round, which starts next Wednesday in Atlanta.
For more Braves coverage, listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on SportsRadio 93.1 FM WXKO TheSuperStations.com. Email Bill at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @billshanks