NEW YORK – The 11th inning of tie game. A raucous crowd at Yankee Stadium. Any 20-year-old rookie would be expected to be nervous batting in that situation.
But Ronald Acuna isn’t just any 20-year-old rookie. And he swears he’s never nervous playing baseball. Ever.
And so, after fouling off a couple of two-strike pitches from reliever David Robertson, Acuna hit the next one to the first row of the right-field bleachers, a two-run homer that lifted the surging, National League East-leading Braves to a 5-3 win over the team with baseball’s best record.
It was the seventh homer in 33 major league games for Acuna and latest in a growing series of special moments for the dynamic left fielder, who began the season as baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect and was the youngest player in the majors when called up from Triple-A in late April.
“I think I’d put it at the top, to be honest,” Acuna said through an interpreter, on where he’d rank this moment on his list. “First thing, overall, I was able to get the team a victory, and to win is the most important thing. And then first time here at Yankee Stadium and first home run at Yankee Stadium is very special.”
It was his seventh homer in 33 major league games and second in four games since coming off the disabled list. He missed a month with knee and back injuries, but you’d never know from watching Acuna, who also had an RBI double to give the Braves a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning.
After going 0-for-4 Friday at St. Louis in his first game back, he’s 6-for-14 in his past three games with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs. His homer off Robertson was the first the Yankee right-hander allowed by a right-handed batter in more just over a year.
“The whole big-league thing hasn’t fazed him a bit,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Acuna. “I think he feels like he belongs. We have a lot of young players with a lot of confidence, and they’re skilled guys and believe they’re where they should be.”
Braves veteran Anibal Sanchez, who pitched six quality innings Monday, was asked about Acuna, a fellow Venezuelan who’s 14 years younger than him.
“He’s a great hitter, great defender, young, lot of energy – everything he’s done so far is amazing,” Sanchez said. “He’s like a veteran at this level…. All the time when those guys – Acuna, (Ozzie) Albies or (Johan) Camargo, the youngest guys in the lineup – all the time they’re in the box something can happen.”
Acuna was asked if he relished coming to bat in such a situation as the 11th inning, in front of a Yankee Stadium crowd of nearly 44,000, or if he was maybe a little nervous.
“No, thank God I really never felt nervous in those types of situations,” he said. “I think my adrenaline always helps out in those situations. I understand for those situations anyone can kind of get nervous for that, but that’s really never been the case for me.”
Asked when was the last time he got nervous on a baseball field, Acuna smiled and said, “I guess never, to be honest. Because when I go on the field I’m looking to have fun, I’m not trying to … I don’t get those nerves.”
Snitker was asked how he felt seeing Acuna walk to the plate with one out and a runner on base in the 11th inning.
“I was saying to someone earlier, guys like him and Ozzie, you don’t want to go to the bathroom or get a beer (when they bat), because they might do something special every time they come up there,” Snitker said. “And I feel good every time Ronny goes up there. I know he’s going to swing the bat. There’s going to be at-bats where he’s seeing things he hasn’t seen before, and he faced some really good pitching tonight. All it’s going to do is make him better.
“But again, he has a lot of confidence in himself. He’s going to go up there and swing and give himself a chance.”
