ATLANTA -- Ronald Acuña Jr. batted sixth for the first time since 2018, and Hurston Waldrep pitched around trouble after allowing the first of Julio Rodríguez's two home runs on Saturday night at Truist Park.
Matt Olson hit his 22nd homer of the season, but Daysbel Hernández allowed two homers in the Mariners’ decisive four-run seventh. Here are three takeaways from the Braves’ 10-2 loss.
Trying everything
After missing most of this season’s first two months while recovering from left knee surgery, Acuña spent the next few weeks providing MVP-caliber production. But his return from the right calf strain that sidelined him for the first couple weeks of August has been anything but smooth.
Acuña has hit .183 (13-for-71) with three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer) and a .580 OPS over the 86 plate appearances he has totaled since being activated on Aug. 15. Manager Brian Snitker sat the 2023 National League MVP on Friday to give him a chance to get two consecutive days of rest, coming off Thursday’s off-day.
When Snitker constructed Saturday’s lineup, he put Acuña in the sixth spot for the first time in seven years. The Braves’ right fielder batted sixth 10 times during his rookie season in 2018.
“I just wanted to change the view a little bit,” Snitker said. “Sometimes, you move guys up and down just to change the vantage point. Hopefully a couple of days gave him a mental break and now you put him in a different spot. I’d like to get him going so he can finish strong, too.”
Acuña went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks on Saturday. The new lineup spot might prove beneficial over the course of the next couple days.
Acuña has also tentatively pursued some fly balls, including a Bryson Stott pop fly that fell to the ground in the decisive 10th inning of an Aug. 30 loss to the Phillies.
“He’s just like these pitchers who have missed time,” Snitker said after that game. “Anybody who has had surgery and has missed time needs to have a normal offseason and a real Spring Training.”
Mental strength
Waldrep, ranked as the Braves’ No. 6 prospect by MLB Pipeline, wasn’t ready when he was rushed to the Majors last summer. But the Minor League seasoning he gained this year has shown through both the dominant and resilient stretches he’s experienced since making his Aug. 3 season debut.
The rookie hurler limited the Phillies to one run, while issuing four walks over 5 2/3 innings on Sunday night. Some of those walks were simply pitching around a spot in the order. Waldrep’s command wasn’t as good as he issued five walks over five innings against the Mariners on Saturday.
But Rodríguez's two-run homer in the first still accounted for the only runs Waldrep allowed over five innings.
Waldrep has a 1.33 ERA over the 40 2/3 innings he has completed through his first seven appearances (six starts) of the season. The only Braves pitchers of the Atlanta era (since 1966) to post a better ERA while totaling at least 40 innings in their first seven appearances were:
- Tom Glavine 0.93 ERA in 2002
- Greg Maddux 0.94 ERA in 1994
- Mike Soroka 1.01 ERA in 2019
Small group
If Olson hits three more home runs, he’ll have as many 25-homer seasons as Freddie Freeman did in a Braves uniform.
Olson has tallied 29 or more homers in each of his three previous seasons with the Braves. Reaching 30 homers this year is attainable, but not likely. But barring a complete collapse over the season’s final 19 games, a fourth straight 25-homer campaign seems inevitable.
The only players of the Atlanta era to tally at least five 25-homer seasons are Chipper Jones (10), Andruw Jones (10), Hank Aaron (8), Dale Murphy (7) and Bob Horner (5).
Olson has four more guaranteed seasons on his contract and an option for 2030. There’s a chance he’ll sit near the top of this group with Aaron and the Jones boys by the time his Atlanta tenure ends.