Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Acuna gives, receives hits for Braves
HOUSTON — Ronald Acuna Jr. made history with a leadoff home run to start things for the Atlanta Braves in their National League division series opener against Miami.
And another hit — once more by the Marlins, this time with Sandy Alcantara’s fastball to the left hip — fired up the Braves and fueled their comeback in a 9-5 victory Tuesday.
“I think it woke us up,” said Travis d’Arnaud, who hit a tiebreaking home run during Atlanta’s six-run rally in the seventh inning. “And we took advantage of that momentum.”
D’Arnaud also doubled and singled while driving in four runs, and Dansby Swanson homered during the big comeback to help power Atlanta.
After shutting out Cincinnati for 22 innings during a two-game sweep in the wildcard round, the Braves relied on their bats in this opener. Game 2 of the best-of-five series is today in Houston.
Acuna got things going for the Braves in the bottom of the first when he sent Alcantara’s second pitch into right-center for a home run. He watched it for a second before flipping his bat and rounding the bases as he became the youngest player (22 years, 293 days old) in postseason history with a leadoff home run.
Things turned testy in the third when Acuna was nailed by a 98 mph fastball. The showy All-Star outfielder held onto his bat and walked a few steps toward the mound before umpires and Braves coaches surrounded him and
directed him away from Alcantara, who had started to walk toward him.
After a short delay, featuring plenty of chirping from both dugouts, Acuna took his base. Umpires warned the teams against further trouble.
There’s already been plenty. In 2018, when Acuna was a rookie and on a big homer-hitting streak, Jose Urena nailed him with a fastball on his first pitch.
He’s become a Marlins target over the years.
“I looked over to their bench and said, ‘It’s been five times,’ ” Acuna said through a translator. “At this point, I think we’ve grown accustomed to it.”
Alcantara insisted he didn’t intend to hit Acuna and that Miami’s game plan is simply to pitch inside to him, but added some trash talk after the denial.
“If he’s ready to fight, I’m ready to fight, too,” Alcantara said.
Braves Manager Brian Snitker said that even though
he didn’t believe this pitch was on purpose, the Marlins have hit Acuna far too many times.
“You better be good at going in and not hitting him after a homer,” Snitker said.
Acuna and his teammates quickly got revenge.
The Braves trailed 4-3 in the seventh before Austin Riley and Acuna hit consecutive singles with no outs to chase Alcantara.
“As long as we’ve got a strike left we’re pretty dangerous,” Snitker said. “These guys can score a lot of runs in a hurry.”
Yimi Garcia took over, and Freddie Freeman grounded into a force out that left runners at the corners. Marcell Ozuna lined a single to left that made it 4-4.
Then d’Arnaud, in his first season with Atlanta, belted a slider over the fence in center field for a three-run drive that made it 7-4.
James Hoyt replaced Garcia with one out and Swanson sent his first pitch off the wall in center field for a two-run homer.
“The tide kind of turned,” Miami Manager Don Mattingly said. “We get that three-run lead, and then we give two runs right back. From there, really, we got stopped all day.”
The Braves got the win despite a tough start from Max Fried, who allowed 6 hits and a season-high 4 runs in just 4 innings. He was picked up by a bevy of relievers who allowed just one run over the last five innings. Will Smith pitched a perfect seventh for the win.
Alcantara yielded 8 hits and 5 runs with 8 strikeouts in 6-plus inning.