Atlanta Braves: Max Fried struggles early as Phillies take Game 2
By Steven Teal
3. Acuna’s Night at the Plate Overshadowed by Defensive Miscue
It’s been no secret that Ronald Acuna Jr. has been struggling at the plate recently for Atlanta. However, something about Philadelphia just brings out the best in the Braves phenom.
He hit a leadoff home run Monday night off of Phillies ace Aaron Nola. He finished that game 1-3 with a home run and 2 walks.
He continued his offensive success on Tuesday going 3 for 5 at the plate. It’s definitely been good to see Ronald starting to get things going again offensively.
Unfortunately for Acuna, that performance is being overshadowed by a defensive play that he didn’t make.
Wild -- Acuña made leaping spectacular play, caught Kingery fly ball w/ glove 2 ft above CF wall, but came down w/ it and began to celebrate as ball squirted out. Kingery circled bases for inside-the-park HR as Acuña shouted that he caught it. Waited too long to chase it down.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 11, 2019
Acuna lept to try and rob Scott Kingery of a solo homer that would give Philadelphia the lead in a tie game.
It appeared that Ronald was about to make an incredible catch the center-field wall. As he was landing, the ball slipped out of his glove and landed about a foot away from him on the warning track.
Not sure if Acuna was celebrating too early from the catch or if the ball just simply wasn’t secure enough. What I do know is that he waited entirely too long to get the ball back in.
Who knows? Maybe if he gets to the ball immediately after it drops, Kingery stops at third and Fried has a chance to get out of the inning with the game still tied.
Things didn’t end up how the Braves expected it to but that’s baseball. Sometimes one play or one pitch defines the whole game for a team.