Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain of his lower right calf, an injury that will sideline the Braves\u2019 star outfielder for at least 10 days.<\/p>\n
Acu\u00f1a\u2019s injury occurred Monday night when he scored from first base on Austin Riley\u2019s double in a 10-7 win over the Kansas City Royals. He lobbied to play the following night but was limping after chasing down a Bobby Witt Jr. foul ball in the sixth inning of Tuesday\u2019s game. Acu\u00f1a then raced to right-center field and was unable to catch a Vinnie Pasquantino double that bounced over the outfield wall. He had to be replaced in the outfield.<\/p>\n
Amidst fears of a more serious Achilles injury, Acu\u00f1a was placed on the 10-day injured list. The Braves recalled Jarred Kelenic from Triple-A Gwinnett to fill the roster spot ahead of Saturday\u2019s high-profile game against the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n
“It happened when I scored from first to home on that play,” Acu\u00f1a said through an interpreter. “They are going to examine me [Wednesday], so we’ll see how it goes.”<\/p>\n
Wednesday’s MRI confirmed the calf strain. Braves manager Brian Snitker discussed the uncertainty about the timeline of Acu\u00f1a\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose calf muscles are funny, too. That’s a big muscle for speed guys,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cHopefully, they get him treated up and we get him back sooner than later.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What Acu\u00f1a\u2019s Injury Means For Atlanta<\/h3>\n
Acu\u00f1a’s absence is a blow for Atlanta, who sits 16 games back in the NL East at 45-62 and has already been plagued by injuries to its pitching staff this season. Over the past month, Acu\u00f1a had been the Braves\u2019 top performer, leading the team in OPS (.885), home runs (5), runs (16), walks (15), and on-base percentage (.364). His season began on May 23 when he returned from an ACL tear, and he\u00a0was hitting .306 with 14 home runs and 26 RBIs in 55 games.<\/p>\n
For Acu\u00f1a, it’s another frustrating setback in a career plagued by injuries. The 2023 National League MVP has previously torn both ACLs and missed stretches of time due to knee and leg issues.<\/p>\n
“It’s an injury; I’m worried,” Acu\u00f1a said Tuesday. “It’s more pain, but I feel it a lot when I try to put pressure on it.”<\/p>\n
Braves Prepare For Speedway Classic Without Acu\u00f1a<\/h3>\n
Acu\u00f1a\u2019s absence puts a damper on an upcoming historical moment for both the Braves and Major League Baseball. On Saturday, Atlanta will face the Reds in the Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway in the first-ever MLB game played in Tennessee. More than 85,000 tickets have already been sold, setting a new single-game MLB attendance record.<\/p>\n
Despite the historic backdrop, the Braves will be without their franchise star.<\/p>\n
Main Photo Credits: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain of his lower right calf, an injury that will sideline the Braves\u2019 star outfielder for at least 10 days. Braves Lose Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. to Calf Strain Ahead of Historic Speedway Classic Acu\u00f1a suffers Injury in Series vs. Royals Acu\u00f1a\u2019s injury occurred Monday night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4445,"featured_media":105240,"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],"tags":[1982],"class_list":["post-105219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","tag-ronald-acuna-jr"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105219","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=105219"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105242,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105219\/revisions\/105242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}