Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. loves hearing Mets fans boo him as he trots home

New York Times

4 hours ago

NEW YORK – As dispiriting as the Braves have been at times this season, for the past month, they've had Ronald Acuña Jr., one of the game's truly elite players, back at the top of their lineup. He's so dynamic that when the Braves get a well-pitched game from their starter these days, they believe they can beat anyone.
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They got a well-pitched game Monday from Spencer Schwellenbach and reliever Dylan Lee, beating the New York Mets 3-2. The win was thanks in no small part to Acuña, who scorched a leadoff home run to center field in the third inning and appeared to get in the heads of the Mets' players and fans.
Acuńa smiled when thinking about being booed in New York more than any Brave since Chipper Jones.
'Honestly, it feels good,' Acuña said through an interpreter. 'It feels like whenever I kind of hear those boos or anything… It's hard to describe it, it's almost like I get more confidence, you know?'
When Acuña did various celebrations that are part of his routine home-run trot, boos rained down from the crowd of 38,593. And when he struck out an inning later, one man in a Juan Soto Mets jersey stood and flipped both middle fingers at Acuña while screaming profanities.
Such is the star magnitude and sheer entertainment value that accompanies Acuña, who is cheered louder than any Braves player at Truist Park, and booed louder than any of them on the road.
'He's unbelievable,' said Schwellenbach, who pitched seven innings of two-run ball and improved to 3-0 with a 2.06 ERA in five career starts against the Mets. '(Acuña) makes it really easy to pitch when he gives us an early lead. I mean it's a lot of fun to pitch with the lead, and he's been really good at jumping on them early.'
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Schwellenbach had four strikeouts with one walk, but the biggest out of the game was Lee's strikeout of Juan Soto to end the eighth inning with two runners on in a one-run game. Raisel Iglesias gave up a pair of two-out singles before Lee again faced Soto and struck him out on eight pitches, ending with his swinging through a slider.
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Lee also retired all three batters in the ninth on a strikeout and two groundouts to record his second save. It was the first save for the Braves since May 16, ending a franchise-record streak of 31 consecutive games without one after Iglesias struggled and left the closer role.
'You go back and look at the run he's on, it's something else,' Snitker said of Lee, who hasn't allowed an earned run in his past 12 appearances while piling up 17 strikeouts with one walk and four hits in 13 2/3 innings. 'I mean, and they're big outs. The situations that he's come in and the job that he has done have been phenomenal.
'The game is on the line right there (against Soto). And he did a great job with him. Dylan's got a slow heartbeat, and I can't say enough about what he's been doing.'
The Mets and the leather-lunged denizens of Citi Field are frustrated by Acuña, Schwellenbach and the Braves in general, considering Atlanta's 27-10 record against the Mets, including a sweep last week in Atlanta. At Citi Field, the Braves are 10-5 with a 2.88 ERA in their past 15 games.
Acuña's home run and sacrifice flies from Michael Harris II and Sean Murphy provided more than enough offense Monday on a night when Schwellenbach was again sharp and efficient, throwing 89 pitches including 58 strikes as he increased his majors-leading innings total to 103 2/3.
'He's getting ahead (in counts),' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 'That's one thing that he does. He gets ahead, and then he's got a lot of weapons — he can put hitters away. I feel like today, he used that two-seam, that sinker to righties… He made a nice adjustment (after last week).
'But overall, like I said, some quick outs, got ahead and put us away.'
Atlanta badly needed a win, coming off a weekend series loss at Miami against the NL East cellar-dwelling Marlins. The loss dropped the Braves to 11 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies and 10 behind the Mets entering Monday.
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Their series loss at Miami came alongside news that Chris Sale, the 36-year-old ace in their formidable starting trio, had a fractured rib cage and would be out indefinitely. Prospect Didier Fuentes, who debuted Friday after turning 20 three days prior, is filling Sale's spot for now. He is, notably, a year younger than any other current major leaguer.
Fuentes provided plenty of reason for optimism in his debut, but it's a significant step down having him at the back of the rotation instead of Sale at the front of it.
'We know we got to pick it up a little bit for him and for the team,' Schwellenbach said of Sale.'It didn't really change what I was going to do tonight, but it really sucks not having him in the rotation.'
The Braves lost the first and last games at Miami by 6-2 and 5-3 scores in starts by Fuentes and Bryce Elder, but won 7-0 in the middle game started by Holmes. Again, when they pitch well, they usually win with Acuña doing his thing.
Acuña was good in all three games at Miami, but particularly the middle game, when he was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and three runs scored.
In 28 games since returning from a year-long knee surgery rehab, Acuña has hit .396 with a .500 on-base percentage, .713 slugging percentage and a 1.213 OPS that's the fourth-best OPS in Braves history for a player in his first 28 games in a season.
'It's crazy — everything he's done since he's been back, honestly,' Snitker said. 'You just don't see that after a player (has) missed that much time. And it's his whole game, too. He's played great defense, and he's starting to run a little bit now. He's feeling confident in that. When he's playing his game, man, it's fun to watch.'
That Acuña would excel in series against the Marlins and Mets should come as no surprise: He has 52 extra-base hits (26 homers) and a 1.067 OPS in 91 career games against Miami, and 40 extra-base hits (17 homers) and a .930 OPS in 87 games against the Mets, including a homer, six walks and five runs in last week's three-game sweep in Atlanta.
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Acuña had a first-pitch single to start the game Monday and stole second base in that inning, his second stolen base in the past four games after only one attempt in his first 24 games.
He has reached base multiple times in 13 consecutive games, the longest such streak of his career and the longest in the majors this season. Jones was the last Brave to have a streak as long when the Hall of Famer did it for 13 consecutive games in 2004.
That sweep of the Mets at Truist Park was the third consecutive series win for the Braves, and the highlight individual performance was Sale in the middle game. In that outing, he pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings and made a diving defensive stop for the first out of the ninth on a Soto chopper between the mound and first base.
Sale was injured on the play, but stayed in the game — a 5-0 win — and struck out Pete Alonso for the second out of the inning before giving up a bloop single and exiting after 116 pitches. It wasn't until two days later that Sale realized the soreness in his ribs from that diving stop was worse than a bruise. Tests later revealed the damage.
The Braves haven't specified the extent of the injury or given any estimate on how long Sale could be out, but he made it sound as if it might not be as long of an absence as some have speculated. He told the Foul Territory podcast that he had two small rib fractures and would be okay. (As an aside, if it were anything more serious, Sale presumably wouldn't have accompanied the team to New York, which he did.)
Snitker said Sale is with the team because the Braves travel with a bone-growth stimulation medical device that he's using daily.
Sale is also, famously, a team-first player who wanted to be around the Braves during this important stretch of their season, including four games at New York and a three-game home series against the Phillies.
'I'm glad he is (with the team),' Snitker said. 'I love having him around, and I think he still can bring a lot to our club even though he's not pitching.'