Young Acuña learns valuable postseason lesson
Flash back for a moment to Game Three of the 2016 World Series. The Cubs trailed the Indians, 1-0, with two out in the seventh inning when Jorge Soler sent a screaming line drive into right field that appeared to be going foul. Only it didn’t.
The tricky October winds in Wrigley Field blew the ball into fair territory — and away from the confused right fielder. Soler had been watching all that from the batter’s box. Not until he saw the ball plop into fair territory did he begin to run yet he still managed to leg out a triple. Had he chosen to run hard as soon as he hit the ball he probably would have circled the bases and tied the score.
It was the last thing he would ever do in a Cubs uniform.
Chicago manager Joe Maddon immediately jerked Soler out of the game and banished him to the depths of his doghouse. He made no other appearances in the Series, which ended with a classic 10-inning thriller five days later. Soler was the only Cubs position player who did not get into that game.
A little more than a month later he was traded to Kansas City.
I can only wonder how Maddon felt this year when he watched Soler win the American League home run title as a member of the Royals. Did he secondguess his actions of 2016? Did he wonder where the Cubs would be if they had the benefit of Soler’s 48 homers instead of the Royals? Or, did he did he feel he had done the right thing and, so what if the kid matured somewhere else?
I thought of all that last week while watching Game One of the National League Division Series between the Cardinals and Braves. Specifically, I thought of it in the seventh inning when the Braves leadoff hitter, Ronald Acuña, opened the inning with a single.
It shouldn’t have been a single. The ball bounced high off the outfield wall. But Acuña, probably believing it was a home run, stood at home plate admiring his blast. If he’d been running hard as soon as he hit the ball he would have easily had a double. With his speed it would likely have been a triple.
Instead it was a single. The Braves failed to score in that inning and eventually lost the game, 7-6.
Acuña is only 21 years old and he has tools that have “Hall of Fame” written all over them. He hit 41 homers this season and stole 37 bases. If I had had a Most Valuable Player ballot he would gotten my third-place vote. There is no way the Braves would — or should — treat him the way the Cubs treated Soler.
Yet, the youngster’s actions — or inactions — were inexcusable. Several of his teammates said so publicly after the game. Chastised, perhaps, Acuña went 8-for-16 in the first four games of the Series. Five of the eight hits went for extra bases.
But it should have been six.
One of the unwritten rules of managing holds that an intentional walk should never be issued to a batter who represents the tying or go-ahead run. That rule has been violated twice during the ongoing playoffs, with mixed results.
In Game Two of the series between the Nationals and Dodgers, the Nats owned a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning when Max Muncy of the Dodgers came to bat with two out and a runner on third. Muncy, who had homered in the seventh inning, was ordered walked by Washington manager Dave Martinez.
Martinez must have watched nervously as the following batter, Will Smith, also drew a walk to load the bases. But his decision was validated when relief pitcher Daniel Hudson ended the game by striking out Corey Seager.
Two days later, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt didn’t fare as well. His team owned a 1-0 lead over the Braves with two out in the ninth and a runner at third. Brian McCann, the scheduled batter, was purposely walked in order to pitch to Dansby Swanson. Essentially Shildt was walking one .250 hitter to get to another. However, McCann is a lefthanded batter and Swanson is a righty. With a right-hander on the mound, Shildt evidently preferred that matchup and was willing to take a big risk to obtain it.
Hindsight tells us it was a mistake. Swanson tied the score with a double and Adam Duvall followed with a tworun single that lifted Atlanta to a 3-1 victory.
I’m scratching my head trying to figure out how a team that was good enough to win 101 games couldn’t find a better pitcher than Randy Dobnak to start Game Two of the a playoff series. Dobnak started for the Twins against the Yankees and it would be kind to classify his stuff as underwhelming. He threw junk and couldn’t even control that.
He stayed in the game long enough to face 14 batters. Six got hits and two more drew walks. He struck out none.
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Did you ever notice that late in the season broadcasters will invariably introduce a key series as being “just like the playoffs.” Then, when the playoffs start those same announcers will tell you that no regular season game is the same as a playoff game.
At least they’re right the second time.
Fifteen of the 34 pitchers who started the first 17 postseason games managed to last five innings or more. Only two pitched into the eighth inning…In 11 of the 17 games the winning team scored more runs in a single inning than the losing team did in the entire game…Of the 135 runs scored, 59 came on home run balls…Tommy Pham of the Rays has nine hits but has scored only two runs. Both of them came on solo homers…Dexter Fowler of the Cardinals ended the regular season going 8-for57 (.140) and is one-for-17 in four playoff games…The Yankees batted .293 in their series against the Twins. Gleyber Torres led the way with a .417 average…A.J. Pollock of the Dodgers is 1-for-12. He has struck out 10 times…Third baseman Alex Bregman has started three double plays for the Astros.
Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 51 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com