Braves fans still upset about ridiculous late-inning blunder spoiling Acuña's return

San Diego Padres v Atlanta Braves
San Diego Padres v Atlanta Braves | Todd Kirkland/GettyImages

The Atlanta Braves welcomed in the stumbling Padres, who were on a six-game losing streak, to Truist Park on Friday night. More importantly, the Braves returned superstar outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. from the injured list. He was three days shy of the anniversary of his knee injury.

It couldn't have gone any better for the face of Atlanta's franchise. He launched a massive 467-foot homer on the first pitch he saw and sent Truist Park into a frenzy. It was an overall great season debut as Acuña went 2-for-4 and reminded fans of his elite arm strength with an outfield assist.

Chris Sale also tossed a gem as he allowed just one run over seven innings with six strikeouts. Everything felt lined up for a Braves win, but the game remained tied 1-1 thanks to the offense going quiet.

Raisel Iglesias' struggles continued as he allowed a go-ahead homer to Manny Machado, who destroyed a hanging slider for a solo homer in the top of the ninth. That pitch has betrayed Iglesias all season, and he may be in jeopardy of losing his job as the team's closer (or at least it should be in consideration). But that wasn't even the worst part of the evening.

Eli White's puzzling baserunning mistake cost the Braves a chance at a late-inning comeback

Eli White has been a revelation for the Braves this season, but he had a rare mistake on Friday night. Alex Verdugo singled to give the Braves a base runner, and White entered as a pinch runner. He advanced on a groundout by Sean Murphy, and Ozzie Albies appeared to have tied the game with an RBI single to center field.

For some reason, White stopped on the way to third base and scrambled back to second, only to be thrown out. Upon replay, it appeared he misread the third base coach's signal to stop at third as a signal to return to second.

White got a great jump, but Jackson Merrill got the ball in quickly. That's why Matt Tuiasosopo gave the stop sign. But the miscommunication bailed the Padres out and snapped their six-game losing streak.

After the game, White explained as much, stating, "... I thought I got a good read on it, turned my head and started running. The ball hit the ground, obviously, and I just got confused for whatever reason when I saw Tui throw his hands up. Yeah, it was just a terrible mistake in a big situation..."

It's baffling that he would think a stop sign meant go back, especially when he was almost to third by that point anyway. The Braves are having a hard enough time winning games right now; they cannot make mistakes like that. It was a brutal gut punch that spoiled what felt like a special night.

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