Ronald Acuña Jr., Marcell Ozuna come through in Braves' much-needed walk-off win over Mets

New York Times

4 hours ago

ATLANTA — Fresh off winning NL Player of the Week and being the only Atlanta Braves player prominent in the first All-Star fan voting update, Ronald Acuña Jr. was asked Tuesday afternoon to assess his team's situation as it pertained to the standings and the trade deadline looming in six weeks.
If 'dire' or 'desperate' are the words that would come to mind for some of us, they were not for Acuña as the Braves prepared to face the NL East-leading New York Mets for the first of seven games between the teams in a 10-day stretch that could go a long way in determining if there's hope for Atlanta.
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'Obviously, these games are important, so we're going to do everything we can to win,' Acuña said through an interpreter a few hours before he and the Braves did precisely that in a thrilling 5-4 walk-off win at Truist Park. The win was aided by Acuña's spectacular ninth-inning catch of a Pete Alonso fly ball to start a double play, and ended with Austin Riley's walk-off sacrifice fly to the center-field wall in the 10th inning.
'That was huge,' Riley said after the Braves snapped a string of 10 consecutive losses in one-run games. 'Some guys had some really, really big moments tonight.'
None bigger than Marcell Ozuna's two-out, three-run double in the eighth inning off reliever Reed Garrett, which erased a 4-1 deficit.
'Incredible,' Acuña said of that hit and how it changed the vibe inside the ballpark and the home dugout. 'He was able to drive in the runs that we needed, and the dugout echoed that type of energy and that enthusiasm.'
'Yeah, I told (Ozuna) I love a team sport,' joked Riley, who had flied out for the second out before Ozuna came through. 'Obviously, not being able to get it done right there, and then he came up with a big hit. That's what he's there to do, and I feel like he's real calm in those moments and, like I said, a huge win for us.'
Juan Soto hit a two-out homer in the first inning off Spencer Schwellenbach and the Mets had the 4-1 lead behind starter David Peterson, before the Braves rallied in the eighth, beginning with a Nick Allen leadoff walk and Acuña's single that chased Peterson from the game.
An Eli White single loaded the bases with none out, and two batters later, Ozuna cleared them.
In the ninth, the Mets got a Soto leadoff single before Alonso's fly ball that looked like it would bounce high off the right-field wall. That is, until Acuña raced back, timed his leap perfectly and caught it before hitting the wall.
He landed on his feet and quickly fired a throw to first base to double up Soto, who didn't think Acuña caught it and had ventured too far to second base.
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'(Soto) is in no-man's land,' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. Acuña makes a hell of a play.'
Riley said, 'Pete's a strong, strong man. I really didn't think it was going to carry as far as he did, but it ended up doing that, and just an unbelievable catch. Unbelievable. And to be able to make a heads-up play to get the ball back in to double him off right there, that was huge.'
The Braves have won five of seven since a 3-14 skid. And though they still trail the Mets by 12 games and the second-place Philadelphia Phillies by 10, the mood was much brighter in their clubhouse after this win.
'Satisfying and thrilling, all of them — all the adjectives,' Braves manager Brian Snitker said. 'A lot of really good things. That's a big win, obviously. We were talking about it earlier in the day; it's a big series. They're all big now, because we created that (situation), so that's a good one to start off on.'
Tyrone Taylor had a two-run bloop double in the second inning and a solo homer in the fourth off Schwellenbach for the 4-1 lead, but the Braves came to life in the eighth with Ozuna's double, which, combined with Acuña's catch, changed the entire complexion of the game.
VOTE. RONALD.
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— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 18, 2025
Acuña was activated from the injured list on May 23 after a year-long rehabilitation from ACL surgery on his left knee, three years after surgery for a torn ACL in his right knee. With two surgically scarred knees and after a year away, it didn't take Acuña long to reclaim his position as the best player on the Braves and one of the best in baseball.
He did that by hitting a 467-foot home run on the first pitch he saw, leading off his first game back May 23. And he's not slowed down, playing every game and batting .392 with seven home runs, a .495 OBP – he also had three walks Tuesday — and .696 slugging percentage in 22 games.
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Acuña's robust offense — he hit .619 (13-for-21) with three homers to win NL Player of the Week — has been accompanied by strong defense and some of the best throws he's ever made. And by the energy that teammates say has been as important as anything else he's provided.
'It's been great,' Snitker said. 'The fact that he wants to play every day and how well he's done has been phenomenal. Everything's went about as good or better than we could have planned.'
So far, there has been none of the residual soreness Acuña dealt with after coming back in 2022 from his first knee surgery. There's just been pure Acuña, playing with joy and displaying talent and skill rarely seen in a Braves uniform — or any uniform. And playing smart, too.
When Acuña drew a leadoff walk in the first inning Tuesday, White followed by grounding to first baseman Alonso, who threw to shortstop Francisco Lindor. Instead of getting in a rundown and stressing his knees, Acuña stood stationary and was tagged. The Braves' training and medical staff, and Snitker, liked seeing that.
As for the July 31 trade deadline, the Braves need to get closer in the standings if they hope for president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos to add some needed pieces rather than stand pat or even be sellers for the first time in a long time for a team that's made seven consecutive postseasons.
'It's like we've been saying, we've just got to start winning,' Acuña said. 'We've got to start doing a better job. Obviously, we want to be buyers and not sellers at the trade deadline. I think for us, it's up to us to just continue to be positive and believe in ourselves, and bring the same mentality every day to just start getting on a roll a little bit.'
Eli White hit second for the Braves on Tuesday, and that said plenty about where things stand with their offense and why they eagerly await the return of Jurickson Profar in two weeks following his 80-game PED suspension.
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Profar began a minor league rehab assignment — yes, MLB still calls it that in this case, unironically — with Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday and went 2-for-3 with two singles, a sacrifice fly and a walk in five plate appearances. He led off and played the entire game in a 6-3 loss at Charlotte.
Profar, the Braves' only significant free-agent addition last winter, signed a three-year, $42 million contract, then played just four games before being slapped with the suspension that will keep him out of the playoffs even if he were to help the Braves claw their way back into a postseason berth. That's the rule with PED suspensions.
The switch-hitting veteran was signed to play left field for the Braves, and Profar will take over that spot once he's back. The Braves have had dreadful production in left field, with four players (including Profar's four games) combining to post a .554 OPS before Tuesday that ranked 29th in the majors at the position.
White became the sixth player to bat second, a spot that Snitker expects Profar to handle once he's activated on July 2. Those six players have a collective .716 OPS that ranks 22nd in the majors for 2-hole hitters.
'Just keep scrambling the puzzle to try and lengthen the lineup,' Snitker said of batting White there Tuesday. 'I sit there and I put it together, trying to find the mix pretty much. Against a lefty, hopefully with his speed and things like that …
'I don't know if there's any right or wrong right now as we're trying to just gain some consistency.'
He hopes Profar will provide that.
'I was excited about just the versatility that he brings and where you could hit him, and the fact that he's a switch hitter,' said Snitker, who batted Profar in the leadoff spot before the suspension and had planned to keep him there until Acuña returned from the IL.
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Now with Acuña back atop the order, Snitker said, 'We've kind of been struggling to find that number two guy behind Ronnie. I think (Profar) fits that hole. We'll see when he gets back where he's at and everything, but I just think he definitely could help to make this lineup a lot longer than what it is right now.'
(Top photo of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Alex Verdugo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)