Acuna out with torn ACL
Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. will undergo season-ending surgery after suffering a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during Atlanta’s 5-4 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.
An MRI exam showed the severity of the injury and the Braves made the announcement late Saturday night.
Acuna had been slated to start in the outfield for the National League All-Star team in Tuesday’s game, his third appearance. He is hitting .283 with 24 home runs and 52 RBIs for the threetime defending NL East champions, who started the day in second place behind the New York Mets.
Acuna landed awkwardly on his right leg after jumping on the warning track in right field to try to catch a drive hit by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fifth inning. He slammed into the outfield wall and crumbled on the warning track, immediately grabbing his right knee while Chisholm sprinted out an insidethe-park homer.
Acuna tried to walk off but dropped back to the ground in shallow right field. A trainer tended to him while a cart was retrieved and concerned teammates gathered around him.
Tears welled in the 23year-old’s eyes as he waited. When the cart pulled around to the warning track, he had to be helped and did not put any weight on his right leg.
All-Star game replacements
Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto will take over for injured San Francisco catcher
Buster Posey as the National League’s starter in Tuesday’s All-Star game at Coors Field in Denver.
St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina earned his 10th AllStar selection, from the players’ ballot, among 10 replacements announced by Major League Baseball, then said hours later he also would skip the All-Star game. He was replaced by Milwaukee catcher Omar Nar vaez, who will make his first All-Star appearance.
Kansas City second baseman Whit Merrifield and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson also earned selections from the players’ ballot, replacing Houston second baseman
Jose Altuve and shortstop
Carlos Correa.
Altuve said he needed time off to deal with unspecified issues with his left leg, and Correa said he wanted to spend time with wife Daniella, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child.
The commissioner’s office picked Washington’s
Max Scherzer, the Dodgers’
Walker Buehler, the Mets’
Taijuan Walker and Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta as additions to the NL pitching staff. MLB also added Oakland pitcher Chris Bassitt and Tampa Bay second baseman Joey Wendle to the AL roster.
Father of Nationals’ Ross saves fan
Willie Ross, dad of veteran pitchers Joe and Tyson Ross, performed the Heimlich maneuver on a choking fan during a game between the Giants and Washington Nationals, dislodging bits of a hot dog to clear the woman’s airways.
Willie Ross is a pediatrician at Stanford Hospital. He was at the park to see Washington, for whom Joe Ross plays, when he noticed the female fan choking.
“I saw her having some difficulties and I saw her companion helping her out. I was watching, making sure she was OK,” Ross said. “She gestured like she was OK and I went over just to check and she couldn’t talk. She needed some help.”
Pepitone sues Hall over Mantle bat
Former New York Yankees star Joe Pepitone filed a lawsuit against the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum seeking the return of the bat that Mickey Mantle used to hit his 500th home run.
The suit claims that Pepitone agreed to lend the bat with the understanding that it would be returned to him.