Ronald Acuña Jr. made a return that felt like something out of a movie. He hit the first pitch he saw for a homer and he also delivered his first outfield assist in such a very long time. Unfortunately, Acuña’s homer was the only real offense that the Braves could muster up in a 2-1 loss to the Padres.
Chris Sale’s first frame came and went in what felt like the blink of an eye because everybody in the ballpark was waiting on pins and needles for No. 13 for the Atlanta Braves to step into the batter’s box and make his presence felt. Once Acuña was done taking in the applause from the crowd, he got a 93-mph fastball riht down the middle from Nick Pivetta to play with. Acuña jumped right on it and hit it 467 daggone feet, deep into the seats in left-center field. The storybook comeback was complete as it took Acuña just one pitch and one at-bat to hit yet another leadoff home run for the Braves.
We got our reminder that this was a baseball game instead of a Ronald Acuña Jr. Fan Convention in the very next frame, which is when Gavin Sheets continued what’s been a breakout run of form by hitting a fly ball to left center that just-about cleared the fence out there in order to tie the game at one run apiece.
It stayed 1-1 for a while as both pitchers settled in following their long-ball mistakes. Things nearly changed in the sixth inning, which is when the Padres got things going with a leadoff double from Fernando Tatis Jr. In a move that I probably wouldn’t have gone for but also lets you know how things are currently going for the Padres, San Diego had Luis Arraez bunt Tatis over to third place. That brought Manny Machado to the plate with one out and a runner on third base. It ended up not working out, as Machado hit a grounder right at Austin RIley. Tatis went on contact and Riley fired the ball into home plate, where Sean Murphy was waiting with the tag.
The inning then ended with Manny Machado trying to steal second on a wayward ball. Machado tried to catch Murphy and the Braves napping — the Braves weren’t napping and so the inning ended with just the one run on the board for each team.
San Diego threatened Chris Sale once again in the seventh inning. That was when Xander Bogaerts got on with a one-out walk before he stole second on a Gavin Sheets strikeout in order to end up in scoring position with two out. Fortunately, Chris Sale made sure that stayed there to end the inning, as he induced a fly ball out of Jose Iglesias to end the inning with the game still tied at one. The seventh inning ended up being Sale’s final inning of the night, as he finished with the seven innings pitched and just one run allowed off of four hits and one walk with six strikeouts. This was another strong performance on the mound from Chris Sale but also another case where he could’ve done for having some more run support than what he got.
Anyways, Daysbel Hernández came on to pitch the eighth inning and the first out was an eventful one. Elias Díaz hit a single that made it all the way to the right field fence. Acuña picked it up, unleashed a laser towards second base where Nick Allen was able to make the tag and gave everybody a reminder that running on Atlanta’s usual right fielder usually isn’t a great idea at all. Hernández walked the pinch-hitting Jake Cronenworth but sat down Tatis and Arraez to make sure that things stayed tied heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.
In fact, the game stayed tied heading into the ninth inning, which is when Raisel Iglesias took the mound in order to ensure that we’d at least get extra innings around here. Unfortunately, that became the mission for the Braves in their half of the ninth inning as Manny Machado led off the ninth with a go-ahead dinger. If you’re counting along at home, that’s now seven home runs that Iglesias has given up so far this season — he gave up four homers all of last season and seven during the entirety of the 2023, so this season is certainly shaping up to be an outlier for Iglesias, already. Anyways, Iglesias sat down the Padres in order following Machado’s homer, which would’ve been fine and dandy if not for the whole “Machado’s homer” issue.
The Braves had the middle of their order up for the bottom of the ninth and Alex Verdugo led it off with a single in order to give the fans in the ballpark hope that a rally could be on the way. Pinch-runner Eli White made it into scoring position on what was nearly a stunning infield single for Sean Murphy off of an incredibly weak dribbler that somehow stayed fair. Ozzie Albies delivered a hit with one out that should’ve at least moved Eli White over to third base. However, Eli White misinterpreted the sign he got from third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo and started turning around for second base instead of stopping at third base. Due to the confusion, White ended up getting thrown out at second base for extremely mystifying reasons.
Michael Harris II proceeded to enter into a long battle with Robert Suarez before eventually grounding out to end the game and send the Braves to a disappointing defeat. Everybody’s going to remember Acuña’s moments in this one but unfortunately, it ended up being all for naught as the Braves ended up taking the loss in this one. The good news is that we won’t have to wait another year to see Acuña back in action — the Braves will look to bounce back tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. ET.