ATLANTA — Now this is the Adam Duvall the Miami Marlins were looking for when they signed him as a free agent this offseason.
The one mashing baseballs with a smooth swing and adding power to a lineup that needs it.
The one that comes up in clutch situations to keep the Marlins in a game — or to turn a close game into a blowout.
It all came together on Tuesday, with Duvall going 4 for 5 at the plate, belting two home runs, recording seven RBI and scoring four runs in the Marlins’ 14-8 win over the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. The Marlins are now 4-6 on the season and riding a three-game win streak. The Braves fall to 4-7.
Duvall’s seven RBI tie a Marlins club record accomplished five other times, most recently by Brian Anderson on Sept 18 against the Washington Nationals. Five of those RBI came with two outs.
His lone blemishes on Tuesday: A first-inning strikeout and misplaying a flyball in shallow left with two outs in the ninth that kept the Braves’ final rally attempt alive.
In between, Duvall took off — with all of his hits coming in pivotal spots as well.
He gave the Marlins their first lead of the game with a leadoff home run off Max Fried in the third inning. Duvall turned on a 1-0 slider low in the strike zone and sent it a projected 447 feet to left-center field. The ball had an exit velocity of 108.2 mph, the hardest-hit ball of Tuesday’s game. It was Duvall’s second home run of the series after hitting a solo shot in the second inning on Monday’s 5-3, extra-innings win off Huascar Ynoa.
Duvall’s first-pitch, two-run double in the fourth was part of a four-run inning. He scored on a Anderson single one at-bat later.
He added an RBI single in the sixth as part of a three-run frame for Miami before blowing the game open with a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh.
It’s been an impressive — and, frankly, needed — offensive showing from Duvall the past two days. He is 5 for 8 with three home runs, two walks and eight RBI over the last two games after starting the season with three hits in his first 23 plate appearances.
“I have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to get going,” Duvall, 32, said before the four-game series against the Braves started on Monday. “It’s coming. It’s just sometimes, as humans, we’re very impatient. We want it now. I would love for it to come right now, and I’m going to do everything I can to do that.”
Duvall wasn’t the Marlins’ sole producer on offense on Tuesday. Anderson went 3 for 5, hit a home run and drove in three runs. Miguel Rojas had three hits — the first of which was No. 500 for his MLB career — and scored two runs. Starling Marte reached base four times and scored three runs. Jesus Aguilar had two hits and drew two walks.
