You lead, I’ll follow.
The Braves’ tandem of Austin Riley and Matt Olson hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 10-6 loss to the Cardinals. It’s the 15th time that Braves teammates have hit back-to-back homers this season. The Braves are tied with the Astros for the major league lead in the category.
For Riley and Olson, they have gone back-to-back seven times this season. That’s a Braves franchise record. They have hit back-to-back homers in sixth consecutive months, including twice in July, which is an MLB record.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Riley and Olson are the first teammates with as many as seven back-to-back home runs in a single season since the Giants’ Barry Bonds and Rich Aurilia did it in 2001.
Back to the Braves’ pursuit of the major league record for most home runs in a season, they hit four homers Tuesday. That brings their major league leading total to 263. With 25 games remaining, the Braves need 45 homers to break the all-time record of 307 held by the 2019 Twins.
The Braves will need to average 1.8 home runs per game the rest of the season to set the mark. That’s ahead of their current pace of 1.92 home runs per game over the 137 games.
