Adam Duvall’s breakout night at the plate leads Marlins to blowout win over Braves
Now this is the Adam Duvall the Miami Marlins were looking for when they signed him this offseason.
The one mashing baseballs with a smooth swing and adding power to a lineup that needs it.
The one that comes up in clutch situations to keep the Marlins in a game — or to turn a close game into a blowout.
It all came together on Tuesday, with Duvall going 4 for 5 at the plate, belting two home runs, recording seven RBI and scoring four runs in the Marlins’ 14-8 win over the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. The Marlins are now 4-6 on the season and riding a three-game win streak. The Braves fall to 4-7.
“This game’s funny,” Duvall said. “It’s usually just a matter of time. ... I was seeing the ball well. I felt like I was in control at the plate.”
Duvall’s seven RBI tie a Marlins club record accomplished five other times, most recently by Brian Anderson on Sept 18 against the Washington Nationals. Five of those RBI came with two outs.
His lone blemishes on Tuesday: A first-inning strikeout and misplaying a flyball in shallow left with two outs in the ninth that kept the Braves’ final rally attempt alive.
In between, Duvall took off — with all of his hits coming in pivotal spots as well.
He gave the Marlins their first lead of the game with a leadoff home run off Max Fried in the third inning. Duvall turned on a 1-0 slider low in the strike zone and sent it a projected 447 feet to left-center field. The ball had an exit velocity of 108.2 mph, the hardest-hit ball of Tuesday’s game. It was Duvall’s second home run of the series after hitting a solo shot in the second inning on Monday’s 5-3, extra-innings win off Huascar Ynoa.
Duvall’s first-pitch, two-run double in the fourth was part of a four-run inning that pushed Miami’s lead to 8-4. He scored on a Anderson single one at-bat later.
He added an RBI single in the sixth as part of a three-run frame for Miami before blowing the game open with a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh.
For his career, Duvall has a .906 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in 71 games at Truist Park. That’s the second-highest mark out of the 11 ballparks he has played at least 20 games in, trailing just the 1.006 OPS at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.
“He’s seeing the ball good and starting to feel good,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “[That’s] obviously a good sign for us. It gives us that power guy. He played here last year. He’s probably comfortable in this ballpark. His timing’s coming. We’re seeing the at-bats coming.”
It’s been an impressive — and, frankly, needed — offensive showing from Duvall the past two days. He is 5 for 8 with three home runs, two walks and eight RBI over the last two games after starting the season with three hits in his first 23 plate appearances.
“I have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to get going,” Duvall, 32, said before the four-game series against the Braves started on Monday. “It’s coming. It’s just sometimes, as humans, we’re very impatient. We want it now. I would love for it to come right now, and I’m going to do everything I can to do that.”
Duvall wasn’t the Marlins’ sole producer on offense on Tuesday. Anderson went 3 for 5, hit a home run and drove in three runs. Miguel Rojas had three hits — the first of which was No. 500 for his MLB career — and scored two runs. Starling Marte reached base four times and scored three runs. Jesus Aguilar had two hits and drew two walks.
The bullpen held the Braves to just two unearned runs in the ninth over five innings of work.
“One of those nights that everything went our way,” Mattingly said. “Lot of guys got things going.”
