Harris, Acuña, Ozuna provide boost to lineup, give Braves hope they can save season

NBC Sports

a day ago

ATLANTA — With Michael Harris II finding his power stroke, Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting .375 after missing almost a full season and Marcel Ozuna fighting his way through a hip issue, the Atlanta Braves are hoping their offensive recovery has not come too late.
Harris has hit homers in back-to-back games for the Braves, who have won three of their last four games at a crucial stretch of the season.
Harris hit a three-run homer to tie the game and Ozuna added another three-run shot to give the Braves the lead in their 12-4 win over Colorado on Friday night. It was Ozuna's 11th homer, despite the sore hip.
The Braves trailed 4-1 before recovering to beat the lowly Rockies after winning two of three games at Milwaukee — their first series win since May 16-18.
The Braves (30-38) still have much ground to make up in the NL East. Scoring six or more runs in each of their most recent three wins has given manager Brian Snitker renewed reason for optimism.
The Braves, who won the 2021 World Series, need a dramatic recovery to extend their streak of seven consecutive postseason appearances.
'These are big games, all of them,' Snitker said after Friday night's win before acknowledging it won't be easy to save the season after falling 10 games below .500, most recently at 28-38. The Braves are 14 games behind the first-place New York Mets and tied for third in the East with Washington.
'As we know, we've done it before (but) not this far back,' Snitker said.
Acuña doubled on the first pitch from Germán Márquez and scored on Olson's sacrifice fly. Acuña added singles in the third and fifth innings for his third consecutive three-hit game.
When asked what Acuña brings to the lineup, Harris said 'Energy. He's an MVP. You know the talent is there. He brings a lot of energy at the (leadoff) spot.'
Acuña stole second base in the fifth on his first attempt since returning on May 23 after missing almost a full season following surgery on his left knee.
'I was wondering if he was on a restriction,' said Harris of Acuña's wait for his first steal. 'Obviously, the speed is still there.'
It was Acuña's first stolen base since May 25, 2024 at Pittsburgh, a span of 385 days. It was an encouraging sign of confidence in the surgically repaired knee for Acuña, who was NL MVP in 2023 when he hit 41 homers and had 73 steals.
'He's hit the ground running since he's been back, that's for sure,' Snitker said. 'His at-bats have been not like he missed the significant amount of time he missed.'
Harris, hitting only .238, has driven in 41 runs. He has hit three of his six homers in the last six games.
'Obviously, I want my average to be up a good amount, but I feel I've been able to get some key RBIs through the season,' Harris said.
The Braves have been below .500 most of the season and their recent stretch of six straight series losses led to speculation they might be sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline.
'I don't think we really think about that much,' Harris said. '... It's just worrying about who's here now.'