Ronald Acuña Jr.
Atlanta Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. had not quite resembled the MVP monster he was back in 2023. However, tables turned on Tuesday night when Acuña gave a loud reminder of his dominance. Leading the Atlanta to a 6-5 win over the New York Mets, he put up a dazzling show of baserunning and timely hitting.
On one hand, his power stroke has not kindled yet this season. On the other, the 25-year-old terrorized the Mets on the basepaths. He swept three steals and reached base four times. Sure this offensive outburst came after a sluggish start. But though it had some fans worried initially, he promptly changed that narrative. But the threat is not over yet.
While the lingering effects from his offseason knee issue do exist, he made it a night of redemption with the New York. “I haven’t gotten off to the start I’ve wanted,” Acuña acknowledged through an interpreter. He continued, “but it’s a long season, and I have a feeling things are going to start going my way.” Clearly, his performance against the Mets was a glimpse of his MVP campaign. A sparkplug at the top of the order, of sorts. Can one say confidently that he was a constant threat to steal and a massive contributor on the scoreboard? Yes.
Acuña’s leadoff single in his third inning sparked a three-run rally which put the Braves in control. Soon after, he added a sixth-inning infield single to follow it up. With that, he capped a productive night, showcasing to the world that his improved batting average was a .256.
Despite the numbers, there were certainly reasons for concern. After all, a slow start is a cause of one. Entering Tuesday, he was hitting a meager .222 with no home runs. But the Braves manager Brian Snitker was not ready to panic yet. He said with assurance, “There wasn’t any reason to panic. That was a really good sign because, at some point in time, he’s going to break out, too.”
Acuna’s Words Resonated With His Manager’s
Acuña himself echoed Snitker’s sentiment. As he spoke, he emphasized that his slow start had no connection to this knee. He confidently declared that “I haven’t felt any discomfort since the first week of March”. Acuña’s breakout performance was nothing short of a welcome sight for Braves fans, even teammates.
Starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez spoke in praise of Acuña’s. He shared, “Everyone saw it. Despite the weather, he’s able to steal second and third. I think he’s just a great player.” If this performance was not a powerful statement, then what is? Acuña is healthy. His explosiveness is still sustained. His dominance which was just a matter of time, has finally come out. So all in all, there’s reason to not be anxious, Acuña asserts, “As soon as I get in that groove, I feel like I’m going to take off running.”
ATLANTA — One night after pulling off a stunning comeback against their NL East foes, the Mets came up one run short against the Atlanta Braves.
Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer late to cut Atlanta’s lead in half and the Mets scored twice in the top of the ninth against closer Raisel Iglesias. But Alonso struck out to strand Francisco Lindor and end the rally. The Braves won, 6-5, on Tuesday night at Truist Park.
Adrian Houser was roughed up, Ronald Acuña Jr. ran all over Houser and his catcher, Omar Narvaez, and Reynaldo Lopez quieted the Mets’ bats in the loss. Still, the Mets out-hit the Braves, 12-11, and showed that they’re no easy out with a late rally.
“We continued to put together good at-bats,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “They’ve got a good bullpen and for us to [force them to] bring in some of their high-end relievers, it says a lot about our group. It’s at-bat, after at-bat laying off tough pitches, passing the baton and putting pressure on their defense. We got guys on, we created traffic and that’s important. I like to see that from the offensive side.
The real damage came in the third inning when Houser gave up six straight singles to start the frame and Atlanta scored three times to go up 4-0. He got a double play to end the inning, but Acuña again caused problems for the right-hander in the fourth.
With one out, Houser walked Acuña and the outfielder then stole second and third. With two outs, Austin Riley singled to center to score him, putting the Mets in a five-run hole.
The Mets (4-7) have struggled more than any other team this season when it comes to holding runners on base having allowed 21 stolen bases. Narvaez has allowed 11 through five games and has yet to throw out a runner. Teams are doing their homework and know they can run.
“We’ve been playing some teams with elite speed and here we are facing one of the best base-stealers in the game in Acuña, so they’re going to be aggressive,” Mendoza said. “It’s something that we will continue to work on and continue to talk about, but I’m not concerned.”
Houser (0-1) threw 95 pitches over five innings. The Braves tagged him for five earned runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out one. It was Houser’s fifth loss against Atlanta in his seventh try.
The problem, Mendoza said, was Houser’s fastball command.
“When he hit Acuña, it was a battle for him,” Mendoza said. “He’s going to need that pitch. He throws it to both sides of the plate, in to righties and over the front hip to lefties, but it was a battle for him today. But he kept going.”
Another short performance by a Mets starter put a depleted bullpen in a tough spot, but the team had a fresh arm in Dedniel Nuñez, who was called up from Triple-A Syracuse earlier in the day. Nuñez made his big league debut at 27, holding Atlanta to one run in two innings and striking out three.
The Mets badly needed those innings, but what they needed more was offense.
Lopez (1-0) threw six shutout innings, allowing three hits and walking three while striking out six. Intermittent rain made command tough for pitchers on both sides, but Lopez worked effectively the few times he had traffic on the basepaths.
The offense finally came late in the game.
With two on two out in the top of the eighth, Alonso got a hold of a 2-1 fastball from left-hander Tyler Matzek for his third home run of the season. Cole Sulser kept the Mets in the game with a scoreless eighth.
Narvaez hit an RBI double off Iglesias to bring the Mets to within two, and then the catcher scored on a groundout by Starling Marte. But Iglesias converted the save by getting Alonso to swing through a changeup for strike three.
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