Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna encountered a bit of bad luck Sunday night — and it cost him.
When Ozuna launched what ended up being a 415-foot shot to center field off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen, he stood at the plate for seven seconds and watched what he thought would be the tie-breaking run in the top of the fourth inning. Instead, the ball bounced off the bottom of the home run porch just to the right of center field and landed back in play.
The delayed reaction forced Ozuna to settle for a single and Braves manager Brian Snitker pulled Ozuna from the game two innings later.
Now, to Ozuna’s credit, his hit would have been a home run in 23 of 30 MLB ballparks. But at Chase Field, it wasn’t. Ozuna eventually made it second on a wild pitch and then third, but didn’t score. Fortunately for Ozuna, the Braves still won in the end on an Eddie Rosario grand slam in the top of the ninth, but that was Ozuna’s only at-bat after Snitker benched him for Sean Murphy.
The Braves manager later confirmed he pulled Ozuna because he watched the ball rather than hustle to the bases.
“Yeah,” Snitker said about why he substituted Murphy for Ozuna. “I guarantee he feels worse about it than I did for having to take him out.
Ozuna is batting .227/.312/.468 in 2023 with 11 home runs and 23 RBIs. But he’s just hit just .167 in his past 24 at-bats with four hits, two runs and one RBI. The Braves, meanwhile, lead the NL East with a 35-34 record.
