Travis d'Arnaud is playing the game of his life against the Texas Rangers.
While d'Arnaud did have a walk-off hit against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 5, his season had been rather pedestrian to this point. d'Arnaud was only hitting .200 with no home runs going into Friday's game and was slotted into the eight hole on the lineup card.
As is customary with the Braves, though, the offense can come from anywhere on any given night.
d'Arnaud first shook Truist Park in the second inning, hitting a moonshot into left field to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead.
d'inger probability = #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/h8UUXYWX9D
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 20, 2024
After giving the Braves their first lead of the game, he then took it upon himself to extend said lead in the fifth inning, taking the first pitch of the inning deep to make it a 3-1 game.
HE d'ID IT AGAIN!#LocalFordDealer | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/srFjPdRDjy
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 20, 2024
After the Rangers got two in the top of the sixth off Atlanta starter Chris Sale, the game was locked in a 3-all tie.
However, Rangers reliever Jacob Latz was having a hard time keeping traffic off the basepaths, issuing free passes to Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna, as well as giving up a Michael Harris ll single, loading the bases with two outs.
On a 2-1 count, d'Arnaud once more brought the 40,810 fans inside Truist Park to their feet with a towering home run that likely registered an earthquake in Cobb County, Georgia.
GRAND SLAM!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/5ksuJ8PgaT
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 20, 2024
With d'Arnaud's grand slam, the Braves took a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth.
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