ATLANTA — Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a grand slam in the second inning off Tyler Anderson, pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza added another slam in the eighth against position player Wilmer Difo and the Atlanta Braves homered seven times in a 20-1 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Austin Riley homered twice for his first multihomer game, and Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna and Dansby Swanson also went deep for the Braves, who became the first team in major league history to have seven or more homers in a game that included two slams, according to STATS.
This was the sixth seven-homer game in Braves history, and the 20 runs were the most a team has scored in a game this season.
Acuna had five RBIs and gave Atlanta a 5-0 lead with his 14th homer, which tied the Los Angeles Angels‘ Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead. Acuna’s first slam came against Pittsburgh’s Alex McRae on June 10, 2019.
Difo, a 29-year-old middle infielder in his seventh major league season, relieved to start the bottom of the eighth with the Pirates trailing 12-0.
He threw at up to 88 mph, and Adrianza homered on a first-pitch 80 mph offering. Difo allowed three walks and six hits in his one inning, giving up run-scoring singles to Kevan Smith and Guillermo Heredia, Ozuna’s RBI double and Riley’s sacrifice fly.
Difo left with a 72.00 career ERA.
Albies and Riley homered back to back in the fifth for a 9-0 lead, and Riley and Swanson hit consecutive homers in the seventh against Chasen Shreve.
Atlanta avoided falling what would have been a season-worst five games under .500. The three-time defending NL champions had lost seven of their previous 10 games.
Tyler Anderson (3-4) gave up nine runs, 10 hits — seven for extra bases — and two walks in five innings. The Pirates had won five of his previous six starts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.