Ronald Acuña Jr.’s exceptional debut a beacon of hope despite frustrating loss to Padres

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - 362 days.

That’s the time it took for Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. to recover from a devastating left ACL tear that halted what was supposed to be an encore to his unprecedented 40+ homer, 70+ stolen base season. The first of its kind.

But he made his triumphant return to a sold-out Truist Park in a 2-1 loss against the San Diego Padres on Friday, the opener of a three-game series that was aired live on Gray Media.

All it took was one pitch for Major League Baseball to be reminded of what it was missing in Acuña: A 467-foot bomb to left-center field off Padres starter Nick Pivetta.

Would anyone have expected anything less?

Acuña’s return could no doubt be the turning point for a Braves team that went from 0-7 to a middling 24-26 in a two-month span. Atlanta had been playing better as of late, but lacked Acuña’s star power.

The team also recently got right-hander Spencer Strider back from his hamstring injury that suffered in late April. These were the two stars Atlanta missed for the majority of the 2024 campaign. They still reached the NL Wild Card round.

Acuña spent the last week on a rehabilitation assignment between the FCL Braves and the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, hitting .400 across six games with two home runs and seven walks.

He looked healthy. He looked ready. He couldn’t wait to get back on the field.

“Last night I felt I couldn’t sleep as much,” Acuña said. “I’m just super happy to be here. I’m looking forward to helping the team and contribute to helping the team win.”

The team designated shortstop Orlando Arcia for assignment in order to make room for Acuña. The 30-year-old had essentially lost the starting job to Nick Allen early on in the season. Arcia was a pivotal piece of the 2021 World Series team and the team as a whole over the past couple of seasons. It was strictly a business move. No way around it.

To fans, there could be a sense of relief knowing that it was Acuña who was taking Arcia’s spot. But to Acuña, if he had known the odd man out would be Arcia, he felt as though he’d pull a few strings in order to keep Arcia on the active roster.

“I think we all know it’s a business,” Acuña said. “For me, it’s mixed emotions. I’m happy to be back, but I’m sad that was the move.”

Manager Brian Snitker said Arcia will report to Gwinnett if ed through waivers. For the time being, Arcia finishes his Braves career slashing .238/.296/.384 with 45 home runs and 155 RBIs. He was named an NL All-Star in 2023 after hitting .264 with 17 home runs and 65 RBIs.

Acuña finished his day 2-for-4, including the home run. To top off his day, Acuña threw out Padres catcher Elias Diaz from the warning track in the eighth inning as he was trying to stretch a single into a double.

Southpaw Chris Sale pitched seven innings, striking out six Padres and allowing just one earned run. Over his past seven starts, Sale has a 1.90 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 12 walks across 42.2 innings.

But even he couldn’t ignore the exaltation heard, and seen, from the fans at Truist Park in regard to Acuña’s first-pitch home run.

“I don’t know if I’ve heard this place that loud before,” Sale said.

Manny Machado took Raisel Iglesias deep, his fourth home run of the season, to give the Padres a 2-1 lead in the ninth. It was just his fourth home run of the season.

The Braves had the chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but a baserunning mistake by Eli White led to an out instead of the potential for extra innings, a walk-off win even. Michael Harris II grounded into a force-out the next at-bat to end the game.

“Just a terrible mistake in a big situation,” White said. “I got an early jump, saw it go over the second baseman’s head and I thought it was low -- which was a good read -- but for whatever reason I got confused, I thought I was still trying to beat the force play at second.

“It was oblivious, it wasn’t a lack of focus or anything it was just a bad read, bad judgement on my part.”

Atlanta wraps up its series with San Diego on Sunday before heading to Philadelphia for a three-game series against the Phillies starting Tuesday.

How to watch Braves on Gray

Gray Media will simulcast these 15 Atlanta Braves games throughout the Southeast this season.

Fans can watch the Braves on Gray by tuning into PeachtreeTV, Atlanta’s CW Network. Fans can also watch games on YouTube TV, over the air on channel 17.1 and on channel 17 on Dish Network and DirecTV and channel 7 on Xfinity and Spectrum.

If you are in another market outside of Atlanta, you can find your channel at BravesOnGray.com.