What was your favorite part of the weekend sweep of the Twins?
Mine was probably “scoring runs without hitting homers sometimes.” Or maybe the bullpen’s valiant performance (12 innings pitched, two runs allowed).
It was not Ronald Acuña seemingly calling out Brian Snitker on social media — but I’ve got thoughts on that, too.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
First, though, let’s welcome the St. Louis Cardinals to Truist Park.
📺 How to watch: Today’s series opener is set for 7:15 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday’s games are at 7:15 p.m. and 12:15 p.m., respectively. All on FanDuel Sports Network.
- Tuesday is Chipper Jones 2000 All-Star game bobblehead night. First 15,000 through the gate get the goods.
⚾ The probables: Spencer Schwellenbach (1-1, 2.55 ERA) is set to take on Erick Fedde (1-1, 3.43 ERA) tonight.
Spencer Strider vs. Andre Pallante and Bryce Elder vs. Miles Mikolas are slated to round out the series.
🧐 The scouting report: The Cardinals are 9-13 on the season — and you may enjoy knowing they’ve won just one of their 10 road games thus far.
MVP VS. THE MANAGER
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
So … what do we think about this Acuña-Snitker-Kelenic situation?
🤔 In case you missed it: Outfielder Jarred Kelenic launched a ball to right field Saturday and paused to admire it — but then got thrown out at second when it failed to clear the fence.
By Sunday morning, Acuña had posted the following on X: “If it were me, they would take me out of the game.”
- It was deleted within an hour or so but … shots fired.
Snitker, of course, famously benched Acuña over a similar incident in 2019. The skipper told reporters on Sunday he didn’t see Kelenic’s play when it happened but has since talked to him about it.
🤔 Then he delivered this little nugget: “Quite honestly, I don’t look for (Kelenic) to not do it because he plays with his hair on fire all the time and he’s laying out.”
Sure. Kelenic’s hitting a buck-eighty but he’s trying out there, especially defensively.
🤔 Is Snitker, though, implying Acuña *doesn’t* play like that?
I also riffed on all this in today’s edition of the Sports Daily newsletter, so if you’re not signed up check it out. My thoughts there essentially amounted to “if you’re gonna bench the star outfielder, you gotta bench the middling one too.”
Esteemed AJC columnist Michael Cunningham wrote something similar over the weekend.
🤔 Here’s another angle worth considering: I think I *like* the fact that Acuña called this out. (Maybe not the social media part, but nevertheless.)
It’s not a great sign that your team’s superstar is apparently harboring a six-year beef with its manager. The latter needs to squash it as quickly and civilly as possible.
But it’s nice to see a little feistiness every now and then. A little fire.
Even if it falls a tad on the petty side.
What do you think? A big deal or nah? Shoot me an email with your thoughts.
SIGNS OF LIFE
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Elsewhere in the outfield, things are be looking up offensively.
- Alex Verdugo and his very large necklace jumped into the leadoff spot and made an instant splash in his first series as a Brave, fueling Saturday’s win with four hits (including the game-winning RBI single).
- Michael Harris II dropped down in the order and put together some solid at-bats, logging four hits (including a home run) during the series. He also scored three runs and stole a pair of bases.
“I think you’re starting to see a lot better at-bats from certain guys and really putting the swings on that we’re accustomed to seeing these guys take,” Verdugo said. “Realistically, I think it was just only a matter of time.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The Braves announced Sunday night they’d acquired reliever Scott Blewett from Baltimore in exchange for cash. Jose Suarez (the lefty reliever Atlanta got in exchange for Ian Anderson) was designated for assignment.
😄 More important: That means the Braves bullpen now has guys named Blewett and (Aaron) Bummer. Which is very funny, if not confidence inspiring.
EXPAT UPDATES
Former Brave and current Yankee Max Fried thought it was an eighth-inning single that broke up his no-hit bid against Tampa on Sunday.
But it was actually the Rays’ official scorer who did it — by changing a sixth-inning error to a hit a few minutes earlier.
Weirdness notwithstanding, Fried’s now 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA for New York.
Here’s how a few other recently departed Braves are faring:
- Charlie Morton (Orioles): 0-5 with a 10.89 ERA. Yeesh.
- AJ Minter (Mets): 1.93 ERA in 10 appearances.
- Travis d’Arnaud (Angels): Hitting .115 in 27 plate appearances.
- Jorge Soler (Angels): Hitting .263 with four homers.
Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the AJC’s Sports Daily newsletter a shot, too.
Until next time.
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