LOS ANGELES – In recent weeks, fans and pundits alike have debated whether Ronald Acuña Jr. is still the favorite for National League MVP. After all, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have also put together stellar seasons, and have not shown signs of stopping.
Acuña probably just turned in his best case for the award: In Thursday’s 8-7 win over the Dodgers, he became the first player in Major League Baseball history to have 30 home runs and 60 stolen bases in the same season.
Five observations:
1. Not Babe Ruth. Not Mickey Mantle. Not Ty Cobb. Not Barry Bonds. Not Shohei Ohtani.
Not anyone.
Except for Ronald Acuña Jr.
In the second inning, Acuña demolished a 429-foot grand slam off Lance Lynn for his 30th home run – to go with 61 stolen bases (62 after swiping a bag in the ninth). With one swing, Acuña made history, gave his team a four-run lead and quieted an otherwise raucous crowd.
“I feel very happy, I feel very special,” Acuña said through interpreter Franco García. “I’m very thankful. I feel very privileged, and I thank God for the opportunity to play the game that I love every single day. It’s not just about me, it’s also about my teammates and the fanbase as well, to be able to share this moment.”
On a night when four potential NL MVP candidates shared the same field, Acuña put himself in the record books while Betts and Freeman watched him trot around the bases.
Baseball fans always debate the merits of different superstars.
But in this category – a 30-60 season – Acuña is alone.
2. The Braves led, 7-1, after scoring in the top of the fifth inning.
Suddenly, they saw their lead trimmed to a run.
“I never felt safe in the game, just because of that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “(The Dodgers) have been through the wars and nothing is going to faze them, and they’re such a powerful team – like we are.”
Betts – not to be outdone by Acuña – blasted two home runs – one in the fifth, another in the seventh. Michael Busch launched another in the seventh. Max Muncy hit a missile in the eighth.
Joe Jiménez served up the two seventh-inning homers. A.J. Minter gave up the one in the eighth.
For Braves fans, bad memories perhaps came flooding back. Entering this series, the Braves were 17-37 in regular-season games versus the Dodgers since 2014. Atlanta hasn’t won a series at Dodger Stadium since 2017, and came into this series with a 7-22 record here since 2013.
Then they hung on.
“It’s always going to be a lot of energy out there,” Snitker said of Dodger Stadium. “It’s a different place, man. I don’t know that we go anywhere else that’s like this, when we play. So it’s good that guys experience all this, especially this time of year.”
3. In the eighth inning, the Dodgers had runners on first and second base in a one-run game. There was one out.
Minter struck out Busch. Two outs.
Snitker left the dugout to insert Pierce Johnson into the game for Minter, with right-handed hitting Amed Rosario due up.
Johnson entered, and struck out Rosario to preserve the one-run lead. Johnson got Rosario to chase a slider away.
“Huge,” Johnson said. “I mean, (Minter has) had a phenomenal year, so the fact that I could help him out by saving that run was great, and to keep us still in the game. Trusted (catcher Sean Murphy) and everything seemed to work out.”
Pitching for the third night in a row, Raisel Iglesias jogged from the bullpen to the mound, with 47,623 screaming fans around him. He allowed two runners to reach but got a strikeout to end it.
An important note: Iglesias was adamant that he could pitch in a third straight game. He wanted the ball.
“There’s no denying that the atmosphere is electric here,” Iglesias said through García. “It definitely felt like a postseason-type of environment. As for me, I just try to do everything in my power to help the team win every single game that I pitch in. And as far as the outing today, I was just trying to focus on pitch by pitch and take it from there.”
4. As he watched the ball fly through the air, and saw Acuña track it, Spencer Strider hoped it would stay in the ballpark, or that it might end up in his superstar teammate’s glove.
Instead, it ended up in the seats as Betts hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning.
Strider threw back his head, then put his hands on his knees as he crouched over. He was not happy.
Strider seemed destined to spin a gem. He was rolling.
But when he exited, he had allowed four runs over six innings – a line that didn’t represent how well he threw.
“Yeah, and I think that’s why it makes it more frustrating,” Strider said. “There’s some starts you go out and you feel like you don’t have your best stuff, you’re fighting for a pitch, two pitches, can’t command something. This wasn’t one of those days. I felt like I was in control. We had a foot on their throat, and that’s a team, in an environment, where you don’t want to let them get back into the game. It ends up being a one-run game, so that’s obviously a consequential inning. Definitely felt like it was preventable, but got the win, and ultimately that’s all that matters in this game.”
He still struck out nine batters. He gave up four hits and issued two walks, but the Dodgers weren’t blasting balls off him. He seemed to be in control for most of his start.
But on the back of their own superstar, the Dodgers trimmed the lead to three runs.
5. The Braves’ offense performed as advertised. They ambushed Lynn during a six-run second inning, then added on.
In addition to Acuña’s grand slam, Austin Riley and Michael Harris II also launched homers off Lynn.
In the sixth inning, the Dodgers intentionally walked Acuña with two outs. This was probably the wise move, but Harris made them pay by driving in Atlanta’s eighth run with a single.
Stat to know
3 - Before Acuña did it this season, there were only three players in MLB history who had even posted a 25-60 season: Joe Morgan, Eric Davis and Rickey Henderson.
Quotable
“Honestly, I think almost every game is going to be like this. I think it’s just going to be blow for blow and a race to the finish. It’s fun to be a part of, the atmosphere is electric, and it’s just two really good teams going at it.” - Johnson
Up next
Braves ace Max Fried will face Dodgers ace Julio Urias in a battle of lefties on Friday. First pitch is at 10:10 p.m. ET.
