Marcell Ozuna entered last night game with a 13-game hit streak. Last night’s game was tight until late. Darius Vines did a nice job of limiting the Astros to one run over 4.2 innings. The offense was hard to come by as we entered the top half of the ninth inning with a 2-1 Braves’ lead.

Ozuna walked to begin the eighth inning. Michael Harris II grounded into a double play and Travis d’Arnaud also grounded out. The prospect of the Braves offense coming alive to the point that Ozuna would have another shot at keeping his hit streak alive in the very next inning didn’t seem very likely. We were resigned to the fact that the Big Bear’s fun run was over.

Then again, we are talking about the Braves offense. They were not intimidated by the legend of Josh Hader. Adam Duvall pinch hit for Jarred Kelenic and worked a walk to start the inning. Duvall advanced to second on a Hader wild pitch. Orlando Arcia, who entered the game as a defensive replacement the prior inning, had another clutch hit to make it 3-1 Braves.

Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, and Austin Riley all followed Arcia’s lead with singles, that’s a walk and four consecutive singles against Hader in the ninth. The Astros brought in Brandon Bielak to face Ozuna. The Braves got Big Bear another shot at the hit streak and a chance to add some insurance. You know he did.

Ozuna was 0-3 with a walk prior to his ninth inning plate appearance. He singled to left field on a broken bat to score Acuna. Ozuna’s hit streak was at 14 games.

Marcell Ozuna Statistics and MLB Rankings

Here a few MLB rankings for Marcell Ozuna through 04/15/2024:

• Home Runs: 7 (T-1)
• RBI: 22 (1st)
• Batting Average: .365 (5th)
• .412 OBP (14th)
• Slugging Percentage: .746 (2nd)
• OPS: 1.158 (3rd)

Ozuna and the Braves will face the Astros in game two of the series tonight.