Adam Duvall again is coming to the rescue after a big injury to the Braves…

Duvall expected more doors would open after he had 21 homers, 58 RBIs, and an .834 OPS in 92 games for the Red Sox last year. But he was one of the veteran free agents who was still available when spring training started.

“It was stressful,” Duvall said. “I was happy when something came together with the Braves because I had been here before and it was a good fit for my family because they were used to Atlanta.”

Duvall had not played right field this season before Acuña was injured. But that wasn’t a concern given the above-average defense Duvall plays at all three outfield spots.

“Somebody like Adam, we could plug in and play every day,” Snitker said. “We don’t expect him to go 40 [home runs] and 70 [stolen bases]. But the threat that he is, we’re really glad to have him.”

Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos had only a few weeks to find a replacement for Acuña in ‘21. He has two months this time.

Duvall has the job for now, but Atlanta will investigate the trade market for an upgrade. The White Sox seem sure to move Tommy Pham, who helped the Diamondbacks get to the World Series last season.

The other option could be a lefthanded hitter to platoon with Duvall.

“An injury like that was unexpected, but when an opportunity comes up you have to make the most of it,” Duvall said. “You always stay ready to play, and I’ll play as much as they need me. I’ve been an everyday player in my career.”

The Braves also believe third baseman Austin Riley will add to the offense now that he has returned from the injured list. Even without Acuña, Atlanta is well-positioned to make a postseason run.

“These guys move on,” Snitker said. “You hate to see guys get hurt like that, but it gives somebody else a chance to do something special. We’re still going to play the game; we still have a really good team.”

As for his one season in Boston, Duvall appreciated the experience.

“I enjoyed running out on the field here,” he said. “You think of the history and who played here. There’s just a different feeling when you go on the field.”

Duvall then laughed.

“You go to the bathroom in the dugout and maybe Babe Ruth went there,” he said. “Lots of history.”

It’s nice that Duvall appreciates the past. But let’s hope the facilities have been upgraded since the Bambino was in the home dugout in 1919.

Chris Martin went to work in a warehouse after he thought a shoulder injury ended his baseball career. He came back to try again and has so far played parts of nine seasons in the majors and two others in Japan.

He’s a big guy who doesn’t typically have a lot to say to the media. But when he does, it’s often insightful. It also comes from a viewpoint you have to respect.

Martin won a World Series ring with the Braves in 2021 and has had success in markets such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and now Boston. He’s 38 and wants to pitch as long as he can because he appreciates how hard it was to get to the majors.

Once he puts the ball down, Martin plans to run the hunting ranch he’s been building in Texas the last few years.

He’s not somebody you would have expected to go on the injured list because of anxiety.

But that’s the thing with mental health. It doesn’t matter how successful you are or how you appear to others on the outside. Anybody can have issues.

Baseball can be slow to change, and there was a time Martin would have felt pressure to hide how he felt and keep pitching.

But no longer. Daniel Bard, Trevor May, and Austin Meadows are among the players who have stepped back to deal with anxiety in recent years.

CC Sabathia, who will be on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, checked himself into rehab for alcohol issues in 2015. He came back to pitch four more seasons with a 3.98 ERA and appear in seven more postseason games.

The Red Sox have a mental performance coordinator who is with the team all season, and the medical staff includes mental health specialists. It’s the same with every team.

Here’s looking forward to seeing Martin back on the mound and getting a standing ovation at Fenway Park.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

 At this point, it’s hard to imagine ownership is embarrassed by much.

But recent days have featured some moments that would have seemed unfathomable only a few years ago.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Braves fans filled a large percentage of the seats at Fenway and started the tomahawk chop chant at one point.

Runs scored by Atlanta were greeted with louder cheers than runs scored by the home team.

On Tuesday, the Sox had 28-year-old career minor leaguer Jamie Westbrook batting fifth with Garrett Cooper as the DH batting sixth. Cooper was designated for assignment by the Cubs in April and sold to the Sox. He had an .443 OPS through 22 games.

Bobby Dalbec, summoned from Worcester, started his first major league game in right field.

“We’re lining up today with guys playing in different spots,” manager Alex Cora said. “We’ll take our chances, that’s the attitude we have.”

The Sox have been hit hard by injuries. But the Triple A lineups are also a product of the payroll being lowered and the 40-man roster seeing a drop in talent.

Then the Savannah Bananas sold out Fenway Park on Saturday. It was the first sellout at Fenway since the home opener on April 9. The Sox have not had a crowd larger than 35,494 since.

But the Bananas, they sold out.

The Phillies and Yankees come to Fenway this coming week and will bring their fans with them. Fenway Park has become what Camden Yards once was: a great place to spend a few days if you’re a fan of the visiting team.

▪ As for Fenway Sports Group’s other interests, Tom Werner told The Financial Times he hopes to see English Premier League soccer games in the United States, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia.

But John Henry said playing a Premier League game in New York was “not something that I advocate or am particularly interested in.”

It was Werner, you’ll recall, who said the Sox were “full throttle” in building a roster for this season. That proved not to be the case.

▪ Jarren Duran had nine triples through the first 63 games of the season. That’s already the most in a season by a Red Sox player since Jacoby Ellsbury had 10 in 2009.

The franchise record is 22 by Tris Speaker in 1913. The modern-day record is 15 by Jim Rice in 1977 and ‘78.

▪ The lukewarm reception Chris Sale received from the crowd at Fenway Park on Tuesday after a video of his Sox highlights was a bit surprising.

Or was it?

Sale was a key component of the 2018 championship team. But the lefthander made only 56 starts in the five years that followed because of injuries. The fans haven’t forgotten that.

Sale can’t be faulted for injuries. But the cockamamie story about a belly-button ring irritation the Sox used to explain away an absence in 2018 was embarrassing for all concerned.

That episode also made it tough to believe Sale actually broke his right wrist falling off a bike in 2023.

▪ Garrett Whitlock has had a terrible time with injuries in recent years. But that hasn’t changed who he is as a person.

On Tuesday, Whitlock joined Cora and three teammates for The Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl event at City Hall Plaza. With his right arm encased in a bulky brace after elbow surgery only four days prior, Whitlock met fans, posed for photos, and represented the team.

▪ The Red Sox Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month included a tribute to Billy Rohr’s one-hitter against the Yankees in the Bronx on April 21, 1967.

In his major league debut, the 21-year-old carried a no-hitter for 8⅔ innings before Elston Howard singled. Rohr beat Whitey Ford.

“It was a shooting star moment,” Rohr said.

Rohr beat the Yankees again a week later at Fenway. But he was 0-3 with an 8.51 ERA in eight more games that season, then traded to Cleveland following the season.

He was used as a reliever in 1968 and never returned to the majors. Rohr quit baseball in 1972, became a lawyer, and retired in Palm Springs.

The one-hitter is often remembered for Carl Yastrzemski’s tumbling catch in left field to steal a hit from Tom Tresh leading off the ninth.

Rohr shared a few other memories of that day. He recalled that Jim Lonborg took him out for a steak dinner in Manhattan the night before the game and how Yankees fans heckled him while he warmed up, saying he could never beat Ford.

Rohr said catcher Russ Gibson called for a high curveball to Howard believing he would pop it up. But Howard singled to right field.

The Sox traded for Howard later that season.

“Elston was such a nice man. It was pretty hard to hate him. I did it, but it was difficult,” Rohr said with a chuckle.

Rohr has been back to Fenway at least 20 times over the years for different events. He lives close to ‘67 teammates Dave Morehead and Bill Landis, and also spends time with Gary Bell.

“There are a few guys that we keep in touch with. But there’s getting to be fewer and fewer of us to be in touch with,” Rohr said.

Watching Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes face the Dodgers on Wednesday was baseball at its best.

Skenes struck out Shohei Ohtani on three pitches in the first inning, all over 100 miles per hour. According to Jason Bernard, MLB’s senior manager of baseball research and development, it was the first time in the pitch-tracking era that a starter had a strikeout on three consecutive swing-and-misses on pitches over 100 m.p.h.

Ohtani looked overmatched, which he admitted later. “I couldn’t really put together good swings,” he said. “Overall really good stuff.”

Ohtani came up again in the third inning and hit a 415-foot homer to center off a 100.1-m.p.h. fastball.

Ohtani faced Skenes a third time and singled on a ball with an exit velocity of 107.6 m.p.h.

To his everlasting credit, the 22-year-old Skenes went right after Ohtani with fastballs.

“That’s why we play the game, for matchups like that,” he said.

The Pirates won the game, 10-6, as Skenes allowed three runs over five innings and struck out eight. He threw 16 pitches of at least 100 m.p.h.

The Pirates play the Dodgers in California Aug. 9-11. Get Skenes on the mound for that series.

Pittsburgh is the only National League team with a winning record (10-6) against the Dodgers since 2022.

The Astros lost Cristian Javier (Thursday) and José Urquidy (Wednesday) to season-ending elbow surgery. They hope to get Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. back after the All-Star break. Houston went into the weekend 28-35, which is still in contention for a spot in the expanded playoffs. But the Astros can’t afford to slip much further out. Houston has made the postseason seven years in a row, going to the World Series four times and winning it twice. General manager Dana Brown has said he can’t envision the team becoming sellers at the trade deadline. The Astros play the Angels this weekend, followed by series against the Giants, Tigers, White Sox, Orioles, Rockies, and Mets. This is their chance to make a move . . . Blake Snell is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts for the Giants and is on the injured list for the second time. Jordan Montgomery was booed off the mound by Diamondbacks fans on Wednesday after giving up six runs over two innings against the Giants. He’s 3-4 with a 6.80 ERA in nine starts. Montgomery and Snell went deep into free agency before signing, the usual tactic of agent Scott Boras. Snell signed on March 19 and Montgomery on March 29. Both took one-year deals, with Snell holding an option for next season. Business is business, but there is something to be said for going through spring training. Montgomery has since changed agents . . . Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez homered off a 102.5-m.p.h. pitch from Oakland’s Mason Miller on Wednesday. Since pitches were tracked, Rafael Devers holds the record, homering on a 102.8-m.p.h. pitch from Aroldis Chapman on Aug. 13, 2017. Devers did that in his 15th career game, and he pulled the ball . . . In the market for a Father’s Day gift? Try a baseball book. “The Last of his Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness” by Andy McCullough. Good match of subject and author here. Kershaw is one of the best at what he does, as is McCullough. For Red Sox fans, three choices that are personal favorites: “Summer of ‘49″ by David Halberstam brings a classic pennant race between the Yankees and Red Sox into sharp focus. “Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero” by Leigh Montville or “The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams” by Ben Bradlee Jr. are also great choices . . . Speaking of the Splendid Splinter, the Ted Williams Baseball Camp Alumni and Friends fund-raiser to benefit The Jimmy Fund will be July 13 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Loon Pond Lodge, 28 Precinct Street in Lakeville. The event includes a buffet lunch, door prizes, and a silent auction of sports memorabilia and other items. Register via Eventbrite: Jimmy Fund Benefit at the Ted Williams Camp . . . Happy birthday to Joe Kelly, who is 36. The righthander has played parts of 13 seasons in the majors for four teams. Kelly also has appeared in 41 postseason games, won championships with the 2018 Red Sox and 2020 Dodgers, and made approximately $60 million.