‘Instant hot’ Duvall’s two home runs power Miami Marlins to road win over Chicago Cubs
Adam Duvall has seen the ebbs and flows of his offensive production this season.
Hot streak. Cold streak. Hot again. Cold again.
Well, he’s heating up once more, and two big swings from the veteran outfielder on Friday night helped the Miami Marlins in put up one of their best offensive nights of the season.
Duvall hit a pair of home runs — a third-inning grand slam and a two-run shot in the seventh — to lead the offensive onslaught to lift the Marlins to a 10-2 win over the Chicago Cubs to start a three-game series at Wrigley Field. Duvall now leads the team with 14 home runs and is third in the National League with 48 RBI, one behind teammate Jesus Aguilar (49) and two behind the San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. (50) for the NL lead.
Nine of Duvall’s 14 home runs have come with runners on base.
“Obviously I’m striving for this every day,” Duvall said of his three-hit, two-homer, three-run performance that helped Miami snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 30-39 on the season. “It’s not attainable, but that’s what I strive for. I strive to impact the game in a positive way and be a guy that we can lean on to drive in runs and play good defense. It’s definitely gratifying whenever you can have games like this and contribute in a way that you strap for every day.”
It’s the latest big game during his latest stretch of offensive success.
Duvall is hitting .308 over his last 10 games with five home runs, 15 RBI and seven runs scored. He has hits in eight of those 10 games and driven in multiple runs in four games during this stretch. Miami is 5-5 in those 10 games.
He’s had two other stretches like this so far this season:
▪ April 10-21: Duvall had a .297 batting average with three home runs, 13 RBI and seven runs scored over 10 games. Miami went 7-3 in those games.
▪ May 4-21: Duvall hit .302 with four home runs, 16 RBI and seven runs scored over 14 games in which Miami went 8-6.
“It happens fast,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “You guys see it. With Duvy, when it’s hot, it’s hot. And it’s not usually solo [home runs]. It’s usually multiples. ... When he gets one, there’s usually another one in the bag there. Either that night or the next day, it seems like it’s coming. So, when he gets hot, it just adds to the mix, really. His is kind of instant hot, and, and I think that just kind of changes games like he did today.”
Duvall began heating up in the third inning Friday with his grand slam that gave Miami the lead for good. He sent a 77.7 mph changeup from Cubs starting pitcher Zach Davies a projected 385 feet to left-center field.
His second home run came in the seventh off Dan Winkler and went a projected 377 feet to left.
“I try not to look at the situation too much,” Duvall said, “because I feel like that can just add pressure. I just go out there and I know what makes me successful and what I do when I’m successful. That’s get a good pitch to hit to start with and then just try and put a swing on it. It doesn’t matter if there’s nobody on or if the bases are loaded. That’s my mentality. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Jon Berti added a three-run home run in the win.
Miami’s 10 runs scored are the second-most they’ve had in a road game this season behind the 14 they scored against the Atlanta Braves on April 13. Duvall had two home runs in that game as well.
It’s just the fourth time through 69 games that the Marlins scored double-digit runs.
Cody Poteet, making his first start since going on the injured list June 5 with a right MCL sprain, held the Cubs (39-31) to two runs over 3 2/3 innings. Both runs came on solo home runs from Joc Pederson. Poteet struck out five and threw 80 pitches.
John Curtiss (1 1/3 innings), Ross Detwiler (1 2/3 innings) and Zach Pop (2 1/3 innings) finished the game out of the bullpen, allowing the Marlins to keep their bullpen intact.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 11:26 PM.
.JPG)