Charles Odum (Atlanta AP) – Ronald Acuña Jr. homered twice on his bobblehead night and stole his 67th base, leaving him one long ball shy of becoming Major League Baseball’s first 40-60 player, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-3 on Tuesday night to stop a four-game losing streak.
Spencer Strider (18-5) increased his major league-leading wins total and struck out 11 to increase his big league-high total 270 with his 17th career double-digit strikeout game, his 11th this season.
Acuña Jr homered on the first pitch of the game from Cristopher Sánchez (2-5) and had another solo homer off Yunior Marte in the sixth. Acuña has a Braves record 33 leadoff homers, including seven this season — three on the first pitch. Of his 205 hits this season, 51 have come in the first inning.
No player has ever had 40 homers and 60 steals in a season, much less 70 stolen bases. Fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” after Acuña singled off Michael Lorenzen in the fifth and stole second.
