HOUSTON - Ronald Acuña Jr. kept his September surge rolling in a big way Saturday night, turning a tight game into a Braves win with one violent swing.
With the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Acuña crushed a 1-0 fastball from Astros right-hander Bryan Abreu over the left-center-field wall for a grand slam, lifting Atlanta to a 6-3 victory at Daikin Park. It was the latest blast in a month-long tear that has helped carry the Braves as the regular season winds down.
Mauricio Dubón had already noticed the run Acuña has been on, and he made sure to say it where Acuña could hear.
“I’ve been telling him, ‘Let me see some Ronald Acuña [stuff],’” Dubón said. “I haven’t seen it all year.
He’s been hurting or lacking. But now I get to see [some of that stuff].”
Acuña laughed as he walked by Dubón and the reporters after hearing the comment.
The homer was Acuña’s fifth career grand slam and came in a game with major division implications. Atlanta now leads the Phillies by six games in the National League East with seven games left. Any Braves win or Phillies loss the rest of the way would clinch Atlanta’s seventh NL East title in the last nine seasons.
For Acuña, the moment fit the arc of his season. He was a rookie when Atlanta won that first division crown in 2018, and now the 2023 National League MVP is back in the role the Braves have been counting on - the guy who can change a game with one swing.
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