Ronald Acuna jumped up to snag what looked like a routine fly ball to record the second out of the fifth inning. When he reached the warning track, he stretched his red glove out and attempted to catch the ball hit by Marlins’ second baseman Jazz Chisholm. He misread the ball, and it hit the left-field wall as Acuna’s left leg hit the ground.
Then the Braves All-Star outfielder’s right foot touched the ground and his knee extended awkwardly, buckling and sending the 23-year-old to the ground in pain.
He lay in the red dirt as Chisholm scored an inside-the-park home run to make the score a 5-3 Braves advantage.
Several medical staffers rushed to Acuna, whose face was on the ground. Tears began to fill his eyes, and his face grimaced with any movement his lower body made.
Acuna tried to hobble to the dugout on his own accord, but collapsed in the grass behind first base as his teammates gathered around him.
“We just wanted to let him know that we love him and that we care about him,” teammate Dansby Swanson said. “We’re obviously (going to be) with him through it all. He didn’t really have anything else to say other than thank you for those words.”
Acuna will miss the rest of the season after suffering a complete tear of the ACL in his right knee, the team confirmed late Saturday night.
The Braves said Acuna underwent an MRI that showed the tear and he will undergo season-ending surgery.
Obviously rattled and after a 12-minute delay, starting pitcher Max Fried allowed three consecutive singles with one out. With the bases loaded, the 27-year-old lefty hunkered down and delivered two strikeouts before pumping his fists and yelling with excitement.
The bullpen allowed only one run to sneak through in the ninth inning as the Braves held off a late Marlins comeback, winning 5-4 to reach .500 with one game before the All-Star break.
“Everybody is concerned about Ron, and hopefully he’s OK,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the game. “But over the course of the game, you have to turn the page because we still have a game to win.”
In the top half of the inning in which Acuna was injured, he led off with a line-drive double to left field on righty David Hess’ first pitch. Two pitches later, Freddie Freeman hit his second homer in as many games to extend the Braves’ lead to three runs, at 5-2.
Fried picked up his first strikeout of the fifth before Acuna went down and was able to leave the bases loaded before exiting the game with his first win against Miami.
“I just felt like I was trying to find the rhythm again,” said Fried, who threw five strikeouts and allowed nine hits with 92 pitches. “I knew I had to get after the guys there because there was nowhere to put them. I was able to get ahead.”
Snitker was impressed with the way Fried responded to the situation.
“That was something else. Max gutted through that fifth inning,” Snitker said. There was a big delay there, but he righted himself at the right time there. He got two big outs to get through the fifth inning and pick up the win. That was huge. It definitely could have gotten out of hand in a hurry.”
The Braves gave Fried a lead to work with all afternoon, using back-to-back two-run innings in the fourth and fifth innings to keep the pressure off the lefty’s shoulders.
The Marlins looked to threaten in the ninth.
Magneuris Sierra singled to lead off the bottom of the inning and advanced on a ground out. Another Rojas strikeout later, Chisholm produced his second RBI of the game with a single to left field as Sierra reached home to pull the Marlins to within a run, at 5-4, but a deep fly ball by Cooper ended the comeback. Will Smith earned the save.
The Braves have scored at least five runs in three consecutive games.
“I feel like we’re starting to build our own momentum,” Swanson said. “The bats are getting more consistent up and down the lineup.”
The Braves will look to end the first half of the 2021 season on a high note when they face the Marlins at 1:10 p.m. Sunday. Righty Ian Anderson (5-4, 3.27 ERA) will get the start for the Braves against Marlins right-hander Pablo Lopez (4-5, 2.94).
“The pitching has been great,” Swanson said. “The defense has been great. We’re starting to find our groove and make a run in the second half.”
About the Author
