Did Urena try to put hot Acuna in his place?
Some antiquated, unwritten concepts of baseball still linger with a portion of modern players
Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves appeared to be a victim of one of baseball’s many unwritten rules Wednesday, but thanks to one of the written rules his record-tying home run streak remained intact with Atlanta set to play the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.
The red-hot Acuna stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning of Atlanta’s game against the Miami Marlins and, in what seemed like a brazen attempt to slow down one of baseball’s hottest hitters, Jose Urena knocked him to the ground with a
97.5 miles-per-hour fastball.
The pitch, Urena’s first of the night, was thrown directly at Acuna and connected with his elbow. Urena was ejected, the benches of both teams briefly emptied onto the field, and Acuna eventually left the game for an evaluation of his arm, with the team announcing later that Xrays of the elbow were negative and that a CT scan was normal.
Acuna was back in the Braves’ lineup on Thursday night, while Urena was handed a six-game suspension by Major League Baseball.
The loss of Acuna did not derail the Braves on Wednesday as they went on to win, 5-2, finishing off a four-game sweep of the struggling Marlins.
Braves manager Brian Snitker was also ejected after he ran onto the field to confront Urena, and a second time to berate the umpires. Discussing the matter in his postgame news conference, Snitker became agitated once again. “I’m not sure I’ve ever felt like that in a baseball uniform,” he said, adding Acuna “didn’t deserve that. I’ve had three hours to calm down and all of a sudden I’m not real good right now.”
There have been few bigger stories in the majors this year than Acuna’s emergence. The 20-year-old rookie outfielder has been thriving all season, but he found another gear recently and came into Wednesday’s game having hit eight home runs over his last eight games — including homers in his last five starts, three of which came on his first at-bat of the game. The five straight games with a home run ties the franchise record set by Brian McCann in 2006.
Urena, a 26-year-old righthander in his fourth season, claimed after the game that the pitch was not intentional.
“I made the bad pitch,” Urena told reporters. “I missed my spot inside on the corner the way I wanted to start with him. I tried to get inside to move him.”
Few in the Braves clubhouse believed that story, and Marlins manager Don Mattingly acknowledged that the umpiring crew believed all along that the pitch was intentional.
While Urena may have been looking to avoid serving up Acuna’s fourth consecutive leadoff home run, dialing up a pitch that was in the 99th percentile of his pitch speeds this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information, it is also possible that he believed he was putting a hot rookie in his place, one of the antiquated, unwritten concepts of the game that still linger with some players.
That concept was given an endorsement later in the evening by Keith Hernandez, the New York Mets broadcaster, who took time out of his calling of the Mets game against the Baltimore Orioles to discuss how Acuna’s production against Miami, which included going 8 for 13 with four home runs in the first three games of the series, warranted a message to be sent through intentionally throwing at the young player.
“You’ve lost three games, he’s hit three home runs, you’ve got to hit him,” Hernandez said. “I’m sorry. People are not going to like that. You’ve got to hit him or seriously knock him down if you don’t hit him.”
Hernandez did clarify that pitchers should never hit a player in their head or neck.
Acuna tried to play through the pain, taking his base after a brief delay and then advancing to second on a single by Freddie Freeman.
But, when the Braves took the field in the top of the second, Acuna was removed from the lineup and sent for testing of the elbow.
Later in the game, Dansby Swanson homered off Jarlin Garcia and celebrated with the home run ritual that Acuna has already made famous.
The hit by pitch was Urena’s 11th of the season, which pulled him into a tie with Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals for most in the National League. Last year, Urena tied for the major league lead with 13.
But with his single-pitch performance on Wednesday, Urena achieved a far more rare distinction.
According to Stats.com, he became the fourth starter of the live-ball era to hit the only batter he faced, and the first to do it with the only pitch he threw.
There were calls on social media for Urena to be suspended, and Freeman implied he thought that was warranted as well.
“Fastest pitch he’s thrown all year and it was clearly intentional, and it wasn’t right,” Freeman told reporters. “Hopefully, some things are done about it.”
While attitudes have shifted in recent years, the little precedent that exists indicates that such a punishment for Urena would be new territory. Neither John Lackey in 2009 nor Scott Elarton in 2001 served a suspension for hitting the first batter they faced, and Bob Shaw, who was ejected on July 24, 1965, for hitting Felipe Alou of the San Francisco Giants, was back on the mound the next day, throwing eight innings to beat the Giants.
“Fastest pitch he’s thrown all year and it was clearly intentional, and it wasn’t right.”
FREDDIE FREEMAN
Atlanta first baseman