Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. part of first-inning rally, National League win

“I would love to be able to be here for the rest of my career.”

Before the start of Tuesday’s event, the 27-year-old was announced as part of the National League’s starting lineup. He climbed the stairs of the home dugout onto a red carpet rolled out over fair territory, gave the “Peace-up, A-town down” hand signal to the fans and trotted to the stage set up near second base, where he hugged Braves manager Brian Snitker.

When Acuña jogged out to right field to start the game (he was previously announced as the game’s starting left fielder before a change to the lineup card Tuesday afternoon), he gave another tip of the cap and then a bow to the fans in the right-field stands and in the Chop House.

After a leadoff single by Shohei Ohtani, Acuña came up in the bottom of the first and raised his batting helmet to thank the crowd for its standing ovation. Acuña quickly fell behind 0-2 after two swings but then took a ball before weakly grounding to second for an infield hit.

Acuña’s 45 mph hit was, oddly enough, not the softest hit of his 2025 season. His infield single to third base against the Marlins June 20 left the bat at just less than 40 miles per hour.

Acuña then scored from first on Ketel Marte’s double down the first-base line.

To start the third, Acuña stepped in against American League right-handed reliever Brian Woo of the Mariners. Woo struck out Acuña on four pitches, the last of which was a fastball clocked at 98 mph.

That signaled the end of Acuña’s night and his fifth All-Star Game appearance.

“All of it. All of the moments,” he said when asked to pick a highlight from the week. “Everything that happened here was amazing.”

For his career, Acuña is now 2-for-8 with two runs scored and five strikeouts.

Olson was the third first baseman used in the game, after the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman got the start and Pete Alonso of the Mets (who hit a three-run homer in the sixth) followed Freeman. Olson entered in the top of the seventh after a mesmerizing and moving tribute to Hank Aaron’s 715th career home run.

“Laying down in bed last night just kind of thought about how cool it was and how rare this is,” Olson said of his All-Star week in his hometown.

Olson’s night began by catching a ceremonial first pitch from Braves’ legend Chipper Jones. The 31-year-old playing in his third All-Star Game then got a defensive chance in the top of the seventh when the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a sharp ground ball to first, where Olson tried to olé the grab and had the ball scoop out of his glove for the game’s first and only error.

The miscue didn’t cost the NL.

Olson came up to bat in the bottom part of the inning, facing AL reliever Carlos Estevez of the Kansas City Royals with two on and two out. Olson, a Parkview High School graduate, got a standing ovation of his own, but struck out looking on three pitch pitches.

Olson is now 0-for-4 in four All-Star Game at-bats with four strikeouts.

He got a chance to redeem himself defensively when he made a game-saving play in the top of the ninth, lunging and sliding to his left to rob Chisholm of a would-be double with one out and a man on second. Stevan Kwan’s infield single tied the game anyway.

In the bottom of the ninth, Olson was on deck when Cardinals’ second baseman Brendan Donovan grounded out to end the inning.

That didn’t damper Olson’s spirits afterward.

“It was great,” Olson added. “Everything all around, fans were great, coaching staffs, everybody in (the clubhouse). It was just a good event. Hopefully, the fans that were here and out in The Battery and at the stadium enjoyed it just as much.”

Braves pitcher Chris Sale could not play in Tuesday’s game. The veteran is still recovering from a fractured rib cage, but his numbers before the injury at the end of June earned him a ninth All-Star Game nod.

Sale, 36, has a 1-0 record in eight previous All-Star Games, having started three of those, allowing just one earned run and totaling eight strikeouts. He wasn’t able to build on those numbers Tuesday, but appreciated the latest experience along his MLB journey nonetheless.

“You’re around the best baseball players on the planet, all in the same clubhouse,” he said Monday. “You appreciate each one for what they are and understand that this is not something that happens all the time. You soak in the moment and try to appreciate it for what it is.”