Marcell Ozuna hits his 300th career home run in the second inning Friday night at Oracle Park.
MarcellOzuna became the 167th player in the Modern Era (since 1901) and the 15th from the Dominican Republic to join the 300 home run club in the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Giants here tonight at Oracle Park.
Ozuna reached the milestone with this solo shot in the second inning against San Francisco starter RobbieRay, a pitcher he's now homered off twice:
HOME RUN: Marcell Ozuna sends a Robbie Ray slider into left for a solo shot. Fourth of the season. Ozuna is now the 15th Dominican player to hit 300 career homers. Pirates, 1-0 -- From José Negron in San Franciscopic.twitter.com/O8ggLi5hNl
"Thank God and my family for being there every time and the amazing career that I have," Ozuna said. "Thank God, and let's keep doing it. Let's go to 400. God willing."
Ozuna ended up going 2 for 3 with a walk in this one, giving him a .333 average (9 for 27) with two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored over his last seven games. He has a .419 on-base percentage and a .593 slugging percentage over a span in which he's raised his season slash line from .160/.225/.245 to .198/.271/.322.
There's still more to be desired there, for sure. Ozuna's a $12 million man who hasn't performed like it. The Pirates have been able to generate offense and score runs without him being one of the guys at the forefront of it all, but they'd surely benefit from more of the same consistency he's shown over the last seven games.
"We lost the confidence, we lost the timing, and then cold weather messed up most of the time," Ozuna said. "I think it's a time to be ready to compete. May, June, July are our months."
THE ASYLUM
Ozuna's 167th to 300 home runs
GETTY
Marcell Ozuna hits his 300th career home run in the second inning Friday night at Oracle Park.
Marcell Ozuna became the 167th player in the Modern Era (since 1901) and the 15th from the Dominican Republic to join the 300 home run club in the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Giants here tonight at Oracle Park.
Ozuna reached the milestone with this solo shot in the second inning against San Francisco starter Robbie Ray, a pitcher he's now homered off twice:
"Thank God and my family for being there every time and the amazing career that I have," Ozuna said. "Thank God, and let's keep doing it. Let's go to 400. God willing."
Ozuna ended up going 2 for 3 with a walk in this one, giving him a .333 average (9 for 27) with two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored over his last seven games. He has a .419 on-base percentage and a .593 slugging percentage over a span in which he's raised his season slash line from .160/.225/.245 to .198/.271/.322.
There's still more to be desired there, for sure. Ozuna's a $12 million man who hasn't performed like it. The Pirates have been able to generate offense and score runs without him being one of the guys at the forefront of it all, but they'd surely benefit from more of the same consistency he's shown over the last seven games.
"We lost the confidence, we lost the timing, and then cold weather messed up most of the time," Ozuna said. "I think it's a time to be ready to compete. May, June, July are our months."
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