Braves takeaways: Acuña returns Friday, and out-of-contention Braves aim for strong finish

New York Times

2 days ago

NEW YORK — The Atlanta Braves are eagerly anticipating Ronald Acuña Jr.'s return from the injured list Friday in Cleveland. They even sent him there from New York ahead of the team Thursday — as they would a starting pitcher — so he could get a good night's sleep and be ready to roll for the series opener against the Guardians.
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It could be viewed as another sign of how much these final 6 1/2 weeks mean to the Braves, even though they are out of the postseason picture and playing for little more than pride and any momentum they can muster — individually and as a team — going into next spring.
Oh, and to finish closer to .500 than they are now. The Braves have made some progress in that pursuit, having won six of their past eight games, including a 4-3, come-from-behind win in Thursday's series finale against the New York Mets, which followed a wild 11-6 comeback win Wednesday in a game the Mets led 6-0 after two innings.
'It feels good,' Bryce Elder said after pitching seven strong innings for the decision in the Braves' win. 'It's been a while. It's been a grind. So, hopefully we keep it up. I know we're quite a ways back. Guess you never know what can happen. But if it doesn't work out, we could spoil a lot of stuff (for teams like the Mets), and I think work it into the future. We've got a lot of good baseball to play and a long way to go.'
The Braves led 2-1 Thursday before the Mets scored twice against Elder in the sixth inning, with one run unearned after a throwing error by catcher Drake Baldwin. Elder allowed five hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks in an efficient 87 pitches.
'They're not looking at the standings or anything. They're out there trying to win a game, and it's really good to see,' Braves manager Brian Snitker said of his fourth-place Braves, who came back to win in consecutive nights at Citi Field to improve to 7-3 against the second-place Mets this season, despite still trailing them by 11 games in the NL East. 'We came back (Tuesday) too, we just couldn't hold it.'
Indeed, the Braves overcame an early 5-1 deficit in the series opener Tuesday with four runs in the fourth inning to tie the score, only to give it right back on a night when Spencer Strider stumbled, tying a career high with eight runs allowed in four innings. The Mets scored multiple runs in five of eight innings in that 13-5 rout.
Thursday, the Braves waited until the eighth inning to mount their comeback, scoring the tying and winning runs on consecutive doubles from the sizzling Michael Harris II, who had three hits, and Ozzie Albies, who had three hits and three RBIs, including his 10th homer.
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The decisive doubles each came against Ryan Helsley, who led the majors in saves with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2024. Albies went way below the strike zone to golf a 98.6 mph fastball and pulled it off the right-field wall.
'That's not an easy road right there with that guy (Helsley),' Snitker said. 'You kind of figured they had the deck stacked the way they wanted it. That's some good hitting.'
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The Braves still have pitching issues, with their entire season-opening rotation on the IL. But the previously moribund Atlanta offense has awakened in recent weeks, led by the dramatic turnaround of Harris, who had his sixth consecutive multi-hit game, the longest such streak by a Brave since Andrelton Simmons had six in 2014.
The Braves scored five runs in five consecutive games before Thursday, when four was enough with the work of Elder and relievers Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias.
It was the best start in more than two months for Elder, who had been 2-6 with an 8.86 ERA in his past nine.
Some takeaways on what all this means and what's ahead for the first stretch drive since 2018 in which the Braves aren't playing meaningful games to secure either a playoff spot or home-field advantage …
Snitker, 69, is in the final year of his contract, and it's widely thought he'll retire after this season. It's not how he or anyone else envisioned his final season going, after guiding the Braves to six consecutive NL East titles through 2023 and a World Series championship in 2021, but a strong finish would help everyone involved feel at least a little better.
Snitker believes every win is beneficial for the Braves and their players, regardless of how far back they are in the NL East and wild-card standings.
'I think it's important to play the 162-game schedule, and that's what these guys have been doing,' Snitker said. 'That's evident by the comebacks and the plays they've made. They're not in there looking at the standings and then coming out feeling sorry for themselves.
'They're coming out every day, and I feel they're preparing. And the work has been great, and the energy and the level of play — they're trying to win every game that they play. And I think that, as professionals, is what we do.'
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Even with their significant offensive improvement in recent weeks, the Braves still have the fourth-worst record in the majors and were 11 games out of the third and final NL wild-card spot after Thursday's win, with five teams ahead of them.
Realistically, the Braves know they'll be done playing baseball this year on Sept. 28 at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So, these remaining 41 games are it, beginning Friday in Cleveland, when they'll add their biggest star, Acuña, back into the mix.
The Braves hope that adding another big bat will allow them to keep outscoring opponents more nights than not.
The Braves have scored eight or more runs in seven of 26 games since the All-Star break and have the second-most runs (131) in the NL since the break, after scoring the fourth fewest before the break.
Acuña will have a chance to add to a season that has seen him play at a superstar level often. But he has missed more than 60 games, after starting late while completing a year-long recovery from ACL surgery on his left knee, then being on the IL the past 15 games for a mild right calf strain. He doesn't want to miss any more if he can help it.
One of the five starting pitchers on the 60-day IL, reigning Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, is scheduled to make a second rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday and could be activated as soon as next week unless he and the Braves decide he should make a third rehab start.
In any case, Sale should be back for most or all of September. That should help stabilize things once every five or six days for a pitching staff that has plucked veterans off waivers and made minor trades to plug holes in the rotation.
One such player, Carlos Carrasco, was designated for assignment Thursday, a day after allowing six runs in two innings before the Braves rallied.
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Sale, 36, had a 2.52 ERA in 15 starts before fracturing two ribs on a diving defensive play in the ninth inning of his June 18 near-shutout of the Mets. The lefty was 5-2 with a 1.23 ERA in his last 10 starts before the injury and never considered shutting down for the rest of the season, even after the Braves' playoff chances declined steadily after losing him and, a few days later, co-ace Spencer Schwellenbach, who fractured an elbow and landed on the IL, too.
Schwellenbach has resumed only light throwing and is not expected to pitch again this season. The Braves also aren't likely to see Reynaldo López — rehabbing from shoulder surgery after making only one start — pitch again this season.
And we won't see setup man Joe Jiménez this season, either. He had knee surgery in October and had progressed to the point of throwing bullpens last month, but the Braves shut him down after he had more knee soreness.
'I think they're just worried about him not having his legs under him and hurting his arm,' Snitker said. 'So, we're not going to see him, that's for sure.'
(Photo of Ronald Acuña Jr.: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)
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