Ronald Acuña Jr. thrives amid boos as Braves beat Mets again

As the outfielder celebrated rounding the bases, he was serenaded by boos. If he chose to glance toward the upper deck, he would’ve seen plenty of middle fingers directed his way, too.

That’s the thrill of being an opposing superstar in New York, as Atlanta athletes like Chipper Jones and Trae Young learned over the years.

Sometimes the away jeers can satisfy more than the familiar cheers.

“It feels like when I hear those boos, it’s hard to describe it, but it’s like I get more confidence,” Acuña said via team interpreter Franco Garcia. “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.”

Acuña embraces being the ultimate showman. In the best-player-in-baseball debate, he might fall shy of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, though his current production certainly puts him alongside them. But he’s perhaps the best entertainer of the bunch.

The home run proved pivotal as the Braves (36-41) hung on.

Credit goes to reliever Dylan Lee, who entered with runners at the corners and two outs in the eighth. He then won an eight-pitch battle with Juan Soto, then recorded three outs in the ninth to secure the Braves’ first save since May 16.

Acuña was still the headline of the evening. He went 2-for-5, but Citi Field’s euphoria induced upon each of his outs said it all. He struck out twice, and the Mets fans celebrated those third strikes as if they’d clinched their first championship since 1986.

“When you’re at home, everybody loves him; when you’re on the road, everybody is booing him,” starter Spencer Schwellenbach told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They don’t like (his showmanship), but I think it’s great for the game. It pumps us up. He plays with a different kind of juice, energy that you don’t really see often. The things he does on the field, you just don’t see it.”

Acuña, 27, established his excellence long ago, even before his 40-70 campaign that earned him the 2023 National League MVP award. This season, though, might put his career in another stratosphere considering the context.

Coming off his second ACL tear, Acuña didn’t debut until May 23. Since that time, he’s been the most productive player in the sport. And he’s doing it in a lineup that’s otherwise had little production.

Acuña has hit .396 with a 1.213 OPS in 28 games. He has nine homers, five doubles and 16 RBIs. And while he’s been a more cautious runner, he’s looked as agile and smooth as he could coming off a serious knee injury.

“You can tell he’s hungry,” Lee said. “He wants it. He wants to be healthy the rest of the year and he’s going to do what it takes to stay healthy.”

Jones must be proud of how Acuña has performed against New York. He was hitting .309 with a .919 OPS in 86 games against the Mets entering Monday. He’s now homered 17 times against them in that span. Most relevant of all, the Mets have never finished ahead of the Braves in Acuña’s career (though that might no longer be the case in October).

It’s evident Acuña embraces the grander stage.

“He loves the big moments, the rivalry,” third baseman Austin Riley told The AJC. “There are a few guys who can turn it on and hit like another level, and he’s one of them. You get into those moments, big series, he loves it. It’s a combination of all that along with him being an unbelievable baseball player.

“You’re not getting booed unless you’re somebody, there’s some truth to that. He’s obviously done some unbelievable things against them and they know it. It’s pretty impressive what he does.”

If the Braves don’t turn this season around, it won’t be because they missed opportunities against New York. Many circled this stretch as crucial to the Braves’ hopes of a rebound, seeing the Mets seven times in 10 days.

The Braves are now 4-0 against New York in that span, but in the frustrating fashion of their season, they lost a series to Miami sandwiched in between.

The Braves continue their series with the Mets on Tuesday. Spencer Strider (2-5, 3.89) will oppose Frankie Montas, who’s making his Mets debut.