ATLANTA - Ronald Acuna Jr. had a case of jitters before he stepped in the batter's box for the first time Tuesday night.
He had homered in the leadoff spot twice in a doubleheader the day before, so even Acuna wondered if it could happen again.
"I wasn't sure I'd be able to hit another home run like that," he said through a translator. "At first I laughed a lot, but then I got nervous again."
He didn't stay nervous for long.
Acuna became the youngest player in major league history to homer in five straight games, hitting a leadoff shot on the first pitch and adding a three-run long ball in the seventh inning to help the surging Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 10-6.
The 20-year-old Acuna homered on Miami's first pitch for the second straight night and became the first player to hit a leadoff homer in three consecutive games since Baltimore's Brady Anderson went deep in four straight in 1996. On Monday, he became the fourth player in major-league history to hit leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader.
"You see him smiling," Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte said. "It's contagious what he's doing. He's best leadoff hitter I've ever seen. He's the best player I've ever seen. Hopefully he's going to continue to help us in the long run."
Acuna went deep to left-center in the first off Trevor Richards and homered to right-center, his 19th of the year, off left-hander Adam Conley to give the Braves a 10-6 lead in the seventh.
"Freddie and I were looking at each other," manager Brian Snitker said. "He was in the hole, and we were like, 'My God, are we seeing this?' And the explosions when he hit 'em, too. I don't know. It's pretty good."
Acuna, who went 3-for-5 and enjoyed his first multi-homer game, has homered in seven of his last eight games and is hitting .358 with 12 homers, 25 runs and 24 RBI since moving to the top of the batting order, a stretch of 24 games beginning after the All-Star break.
"We really didn't have much of a conversation about it," the rookie said. "I just showed up one day and saw my name in the leadoff spot. I didn't think that much about it."
Acuna tied the Atlanta record of homering in five consecutive games, a mark Brian McCann set in 2006. The only other major leaguer younger than 21 to homer in four straight games was Miguel Cabrera for the Marlins in 2004.
"I think this is the first time I've ever been hot, hot," Acuna said. "It feels good, and you definitely show up with a lot of confidence."