Braves Report: Larry Wayne Acuña Jr.

Sure is fun beating the Mets, huh?

Last night’s 3-2 win makes four straight wins for Atlanta. Since 2022, the Braves are 27-10 against the feckless squad from Flushing.

And a certain star outfielder is eating it up.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

📺 How to watch: First pitch at 7:10 p.m. on both FanDuel Sports and TBS.

⚾ The pitching matchups: Spencer Strider (2-5, 3.89) vs. Frankie Montas (N/A)

📝 The scouting report: Montas will make his 2025 debut tonight after dealing with a lat injury. He made two starts against the Braves last year (one for the Brewers, one for the Reds) and failed to last longer than 4⅓ innings in either.

Strider threw six innings of one-run ball against the Mets last week. Outfielder Brandon Nimmo has had the most success against him of any New York regular, with nine hits (including two homers) in 19 career at-bats.

NEW YORK LOVES RONNIE

Credit: Pamela Smith/AP

Credit: Pamela Smith/AP

Don’t look now, folks. But I think the Mets have a new daddy.

Ronald Acuña Jr. welcomed the boos and middle fingers that followed him around the basepaths during his Monday night home run trot at Citi Field.

“It feels like when I hear those boos, it’s hard to describe it, but it’s like I get more confidence,” he said afterward, via team interpreter Franco Garcia (more fun quotes here).

“It’s good to have rivalries between lots of different teams. It just helps add to the emotion and the excitement of the game. It just sets the stage to do some cool stuff when you’re playing each other.”

And Acuña has done plenty of cool stuff against New York.

In four games this season, he’s stacked up four hits (including two homers) and scored six runs. He’s hitting .308 with a whopping 1.276 OPS (on-base plus slugging).
He’s hit 17 homers in 87 career games against the Mets. Entering Monday’s action, Acuña had posted a .309 average with a .919 OPS.

It’s worth noting that third baseman Austin Riley has tormented New York plenty, too, with 19 home runs in 80 games. But I don’t recall the Mets faithful directing any particularly vociferous hate his way.

For the gold standard of inflicting Mets misery, you know who we have to turn to: Larry Wayne “Chipper” Jones Jr.

Jones played the Mets 245 times in his Hall of Fame career.
All he did was bat .309 with 49 homers, 159 RBI and 265 runs scored.

I’m … not good at math. But if Acuña keeps it up (and matches Jones in number of games played), he’d end up with pretty darn similar stats.

You love to see it.

MORE FUN WITH NUMBERS

Two outs in the eighth, runners on first and third. The Braves are up 3-2 — and Mets slugger Juan Soto is at the plate.

Enter reliever Dylan Lee.

Lee got the strikeout with a series of pitches that started with Soto nodding, impressed, at a called strike — and ended with him whiffing on a gnarly 88 mph slider.

👀 Here’s where the numbers part comes in: Lee went on to dismiss the Mets 1-2-3 in the ninth inning, earning Atlanta’s first save since May 16.

That stretch of 31 save-less games was the longest in franchise history.

Wild stuff. But perhaps unsurprising, given Raisel Iglesias’ struggles and this team’s aptitude for losing one-run games.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Credit: Pamela Smith/AP

Poor guy.

GEORGIA GROWN TALENT

Non-Braves-specific news alert: The AJC’s Chad Bishop recently took a look at Peach State products poised to make an impact in Major League Baseball (or already doing so).

Top Pirates prospect Bubba Chandler, a North Oconee High grad, leads the list.

Worth a read!

Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the AJC’s Sports Daily newsletter a shot, too.

Until next time.

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