This Upton-Upton combination is working out nicely for the Braves.
Justin and BJ Upton became the first brothers to hit a tying and walk-off home run in the same inning in MLB history, per Elias Sports Bureau. BJ went deep off Chicago’s Carlos Marmol to lead off the ninth and tie the Braves-Cubs game at 5 on Saturday. Two batters later, Justin homered to win the game. It was Justin’s fifth home run of the season and second of the game, while the homer was BJ’s first of the season.
Interestingly, Buster Olney notes that all of Justin’s home runs this season have come with two strikes. Of course, it’s easy for power-hitting Major Leaguers to hit home runs when the pitcher is leaving you flat 93-94 mph fastballs over the middle of the plate as Marmol did.
Atlanta signed older brother BJ as a free agent in the offseason, and they followed it up by acquiring Justin in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Through five games, the moves are working out quite nicely.
Do you think this is what Atlanta had in mind when they acquired the brothers? That was easily one of the coolest feats I’ve seen in baseball. They keep this up, and they might just move ahead of Kate in the Upton Power Rankings.
