{"id":104359,"date":"2025-07-19T17:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T21:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=104359"},"modified":"2025-07-19T17:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T21:04:12","slug":"acuna-anchors-braves-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/19\/acuna-anchors-braves-yankees\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronald Acu\u00f1a Looks to Lead Braves in Second Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

As long as Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/a> is in the outfield for the Atlanta Braves, the extraordinary feels possible. On Friday night at Truist Park, the 2023 National League MVP added to his highlight reel as he helped power the Braves to a 7\u20133 win over the New York Yankees in the opening game of the interleague series.<\/p>\n

Ronald Acu\u00f1a Looks to Lead Braves in Second Half<\/h2>\n

Acu\u00f1a\u2019s dominant two-way performance against Yankees<\/h3>\n

Acu\u00f1a wasted no time making his presence felt in the series opener, doubling during Atlanta\u2019s three-run first inning before tripling and scoring on rookie catcher Drake Baldwin\u2019s two-out single in the fourth. But it was his arm, not his bat, that delivered the game’s defining moment.<\/p>\n

In the top of the third inning, Braves starter Spencer Strider<\/a> ran into trouble after issuing consecutive one-out walks to Jorbit Vivas and Trent Grisham, with Cody Bellinger at the plate, tension built as the slugger lifted a high fly ball into foul territory near the right-field corner.<\/p>\n

Acu\u00f1a got under the ball and made the catch near the line. Vivas, thinking the All-Star outfielder was too far to make a play, tagged and took off for third. Acu\u00f1a spun and unleashed a laser to third baseman Nacho Alvarez Jr.<\/a>, who applied the tag on a stunned Vivas, who didn\u2019t even slide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just always try to anticipate those plays,\u201d Acu\u00f1a said through a translator. \u201cI was just trying to get kind of ready and thankfully I have a good arm.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Acu\u00f1a continues impressive campaign, looks ahead to second half<\/h3>\n

He called the throw \u201cone of the best of my career.\u201d It was yet another reminder that the Braves superstar isn\u2019t just back, he\u2019s fully reloaded.<\/p>\n

Acu\u00f1a returned to Atlanta\u2019s lineup on May 23 after nearly a year of recovery from a torn ACL.<\/a> He homered on the first pitch he saw, and he hasn\u2019t looked back since. In 46 games since his return, he\u2019s slashing .329\/.442\/.610 with a 1.052 OPS, 12 home runs and four stolen bases.<\/p>\n

Acu\u00f1a\u2019s performance on Friday came just three days after he started in right field for the National League during the All-Star Game, hosted in Atlanta. Acu\u00f1a said after the star-studded matchup that the Braves were ready to make a second-half push.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go out there with a purpose,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to go out there, give our best effort and put on a show for them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Acu\u00f1a looks to lead Braves amidst rotation instability<\/h3>\n

That show will need to continue as the Braves face significant challenges on the mound. With ace Chris Sale<\/a> out until at least August, Spencer Schwellenbach<\/a> sidelined until September and both A.J. Smith-Shawver<\/a> and Reynaldo L\u00f3pez<\/a> gone long-term, Atlanta\u2019s rotation has become unstable.<\/p>\n

But with Acu\u00f1a leading the charge, the Braves are hoping that star power and defensive prowess can carry them through.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As long as Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. is in the outfield for the Atlanta Braves, the extraordinary feels possible. On Friday night at Truist Park, the 2023 National League MVP added to his highlight reel as he helped power the Braves to a 7\u20133 win over the New York Yankees in the opening game of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,5],"tags":[1982],"class_list":["post-104359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-yankees","tag-ronald-acuna-jr"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104359"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104375,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104359\/revisions\/104375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}