Braves' Ronald Acuna stays hot with third straight leadoff homer

ATLANTA --  Braves rookie  Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a leadoff home run for the third straight game Tuesday night, following up on his leadoff homers in both games of Monday's doubleheader against the Miami Marlins.

Acuna sent the first pitch he saw from Miami's  Trevor Richards, a 90 mph fastball, over the left-field fence, making him the second player in modern MLB history (since 1900) to hit a leadoff homer in three straight games. He joined Brady Anderson, who did it in four straight games for the  Baltimore Orioles in April 1996.

Acuna homered again in the seventh inning, hammering a three-run shot to right field for his 19th home run of the season. It marked his first career multi-homer game.

Acuna has homered in five straight games; at 20, he is the youngest player in MLB history to pull that feat. The only other player under 21 to homer in four straight games was Miguel Cabrera for the Marlins in 2004.

Acuna, who has five leadoff home runs this season, is making a bid to be the NL's top rookie despite missing a month with a left knee injury. His 19 homers this season are the most all-time by a player age 20 or younger over his first 67 career games.

Acuna is hitting .352 with 12 homers since moving to the top of the batting order, a stretch of 24 games beginning right after the All-Star break. He went 5-for-8 with two homers, five RBIs, five runs, two walks, a double and a stolen base in Atlanta's doubleheader sweep of the Marlins.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.