Acuña Jr. starts crucial play ahead of Braves' walk-off in 1st showdown vs. little brother

ATLANTA -- Ronald Acuña Jr. turned two after making a leaping catch at the outfield wall and Marcell Ozuna cleared the bases with a game-tying, two-out double in the eighth. Maybe, this was finally the win the Braves needed to propel them to the extended string of success that has eluded them all year.

“You always want to come out on top, but this one is so special,” Braves starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach said.

Austin Riley ended the comeback with a sacrifice fly in the 10th. But the lasting memory from the Braves’ 5-4 win over the Mets on Tuesday night at Truist Park was the great catch Acuña made before catching Juan Soto too far off first base.

“It was a great play,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Against great teams like that, you need to make big plays. And as we’ve seen many, many times, that kid is capable of doing that.”

Down to their final four outs, it looked like the Braves were destined for what would have been their 17th loss in their past 24 games. But thanks to Ozuna’s clutch hit, Acuña’s great play and Riley’s game-ending long drive, they won for the first time in their past 11 one-run games.

Yeah, it was good to beat the first-place Mets. But sitting seven games under .500 and 12 games back in the National League East race, this isn’t a club that is yet chasing a division. The Braves must first focus on passing the five teams that sit ahead of them in the chase for the third and final National League Wild Card spot.

“Every win matters,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “Every win is important.”

Especially those claimed when battling a sibling. Acuña created this gem while playing in the same MLB game as his younger brother Mets infielder Luisangel Acuña for the first time.

Ozuna’s three-run double with two outs in the eighth gave the Braves life, and Acuña added to the excitement in the ninth when he leaped to grab Pete Alonso’s long fly ball just before it hit above the green padding and possibly resulted in an extra-base hit. Soto hesitated to return to first, looking toward first-base umpire Edwin Jimenez to see if an out was called. The hesitation was enough for Acuña’s throw to beat him back to first base.

“It’s just about anticipating those plays and executing,” Acuña said. “Fortunately, it played out like I wanted.”

Soto’s aggressive progress toward second base indicated he didn’t believe the catch would be made. Jimenez appeared to signal an out as soon as Acuña landed and proved he still had the ball after pushing off the wall.

"We rely on the umpires, so we wait for them to make the call," Soto said. "We had something like that earlier this year, too. The goal is look for the umpire, and make sure he makes the right call. But I felt like he just took way too long to make the decision, and he put me in a tough spot."

Schwellenbach allowed four earned runs over seven innings, two more earned runs than he surrendered in 21 innings against the Mets last year. He surrendered solo homers to Soto and Tyrone Taylor. The other two runs scored when a Taylor fly ball bounced out of Acuña’s glove as the Braves right fielder attempted to make a diving catch.

It looked like that production might be enough for the Mets before Acuña and Alex Verdugo followed Nick Allen’s leadoff walk with consecutive singles in the eighth. A Matt Olson strikeout and Riley flyout preceded Ozuna’s game-tying hit for the Braves, who have still produced just a .592 OPS with the bases loaded this year.

So the fact that Ozuna and Riley both delivered their clutch late-inning contributions with the bases loaded enhanced the hope that this might be a win that distances them from this year’s woes.

“It’s a big series,” Snitker said. “They’re all big now. We created that. So this is a good win to start.”