{"id":665061,"date":"2026-04-05T18:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665061\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T18:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:54:17","slug":"austin-riley-absent-acuna-leading-as-dh-in-diamondbacks-series-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665061\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Riley absent, Acu\u00f1a leading as DH in Diamondbacks series finale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Happy Easter to all who celebrate!<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">We are back with Sunday baseball on the West Coast, as the Braves take on the Diamondbacks for the series finale, hoping to secure the win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The roster has been released for both teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez is taking the hill for his first career start with the Braves, with a solid squad behind him to handle offense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. has yet to go yard this season, with only one run accounted for. Maybe this time, leading off as the designated hitter will produce different results, as hitting will be his primary focus, eliminating the field work for the day. Eli White is taking over that area in right field and batting ahead of Jorge Mateo, who\u2019s set to occupy shortstop. Mike Yastrzemski is moving up to the fourth slot, and Michael Harris II is following behind at fifth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Mauricio Dub\u00f3n is also making a return and taking over third base, giving Austin Riley, who\u2019s been producing a .497 OPS lately, the day off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Diamondbacks roster has also been set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The first three slots have stayed consistent throughout the series, with some shifts in the remaining holes. Carlos Santana has returned to occupy first base, moving Jose Fernandez\u2014a Dbacks fan-favorite\u2014 over to DH and batting fifth in the lineup. Tim Tawa and James McCann, who were absent from yesterday\u2019s start, are also making a return to close out the series, with Brandon Pfaadt hoping to improve his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterypower.com\/atlanta-braves-game-information\/128751\/martin-perez-gets-the-start-to-close-out-the-series-finale-in-arizona-start-time-preview-brandon-pfaadt-tv-matchup-radio-streaming\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">start <\/a>as he takes the mound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Braves are looking to secure their third consecutive series win, while the Diamondbacks are going for the split before both teams hit the road. Let\u2019s see how the chips fall in this finale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy Easter to all who celebrate! We are back with Sunday baseball on the West Coast, as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2404],"tags":[146,22,4314,76532,5,38,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-665061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","10":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","11":"tag-atlanta-braves-game-information","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-diamondbacks","14":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116353621418698653","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}