In the course of the Atlanta Braves' 10-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night (box score), Atlanta DH and No. 3 hitter Marcell Ozuna made a bit of history:
Marcell Ozuna becomes the first NL player with a 3-HR game at Fenway Park.#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/Wvn29PHgpg
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) September 2, 2020
Indeed, before Tuesday night no National League player had ever hit three homers in a game at Fenway Park. Ozuna becomes the first. In the first inning, he hit a two-run shot off Ryan Weber (401 feet). In the seventh, he victimized Kyle Hart with a solo homer (441 feet), and then in the eighth he got to Hart again with a three-run homer (437 feet). So that's three home runs and 1,279 feet of home runs. Here's a look at all three homers (and all 1,279 feet):
MLB has conducted interleague play since 1997, and it's taken this long for a player from the senior circuit to hit three home runs in a game at Fenway. Coincidentally, the Braves in their Boston days called Fenway home on a temporary basis for parts of the 1913, 1914, and 1915 seasons, but back in the deadball era three-homer games were even more of a rarity. Ozuna also becomes the first visiting player to homer three times in a game at Fenway since Mark Teixeira of the Yankees in 2010.
The Braves signed Ozuna this past offseason in the hopes that his strong batted-ball metrics would lead to better production. So far that bet is paying off, as Ozuna is now batting .295/.383/.605 with 11 homers on the season.
