Again in Miami, Ozuna breaks hunch in grand method

MIAMI — Sometimes, a change in venue and time with household is all it takes for a participant to seek out their groove.

For Marcell Ozuna, whose household lives in Miami and who spent the primary 5 years of his profession with the Marlins — and who has a profession .293 common in opposition to Miami — some South Florida air appeared to make all of the distinction.

“It’s the former team card,” supervisor Brian Snitker mentioned of Ozuna’s success vs. the Marlins. “I’m glad, good for him. I imply, he continued to work. He’s had an ideal angle, [things haven’t gone] the way in which he actually needed issues to, however he isn’t cashing his chips in, that is for positive.

Ozuna entered the collection opener vs. the Marlins on Tuesday at loanDepot park with an .085 common via 18 video games. He singled twice and walked as soon as within the opener, enhancing his common to .111.

But the true breakthrough got here in Wednesday’s 14-6 Braves win, through which Ozuna homered twice — together with a second-inning grand slam — and singled. Over the course of two video games, the designated hitter doubled his hit whole.

“We didn’t play him in the doubleheader [Monday against the Mets],” Snitker mentioned. “So I wanted to get him back in there, and he had some really good at-bats off Sandy [Alcantara on Tuesday], and then tonight, [he was] really good. We’ll run him out there again tomorrow. I mean, if he’s gonna get hot and — you know what, you get hot and hit, you’re gonna play.”

And play Ozuna did. It began with the grand slam. With the bases loaded and no outs, Ozuna yanked a first-pitch slider 434 ft to left subject. It was going out as quickly because it left his bat, and he stood again and admired it because it soared over the house bullpen, over the seats in left subject and over the concourse. Then, he made his manner across the bases.

“We all go through these things,” Ronald Acuña Jr. mentioned by way of interpreter Franco Garcia. “Things happen, right? And he just happened to be going through a bad stretch. And you know, what I told him, ‘Keep your head up, keep believing.’ And now we’re seeing — we’re seeing what he’s capable of.”

The slam was the Braves’ first this season and the seventh of Ozuna’s profession. But he wasn’t completed. Leading off the third inning, Ozuna ripped the second pitch he noticed, a curveball, into the Marlins bullpen down the left-field line. It was his two hundredth profession residence run and his fifteenth profession multihomer sport. Ozuna’s homers have been simply two of six the Braves hit: Michael Harris II, Austin Riley, Acuña and Ozzie Albies every went yard as properly.

“I never [thought] I’d hit more than two [home runs],” Ozuna mentioned, laughing, “… I have two more years, this year and next year, and then see if someone gives me the opportunity — or maybe this team gives me the opportunity — and try to keep going to 300. [In] three years, I feel like I can do it.”

Ozuna went from being booed at residence in Atlanta final week to getting cheered as a customer in Miami. And it is sensible. For him, spending time together with his household and attending to make his youngsters — who have been in attendance on Wednesday evening — proud, that arguably means greater than breaking out of a hunch.

“Last two years, I’ve been struggling,” Ozuna mentioned. “I’ve a problem with my household. I’ve a problem exterior the sector, after which like, a whole lot of distractions exterior the sector. And then my thoughts do not feel proper. So proper now, I’m feeling good and I’m proper in a manner and good with my household and good with my staff, and I’m good with everybody exterior. So I’m being [more] chilled out. …

“[Sometimes] I try to do too much, I try to show how — most important for me is to give the best to my team and my teammates and the coaches. And the fans. They pay for — to see me, so sometimes I feel a bit embarrassed and try to do too much, try to show them what talent I have. I just have to relax, enjoy my game and swing the bat. That’s the only way you can be good, swinging the bat.”