Braves Briefing: Ronald Acuña Jr appears to have avoided significant injury against Miami

The Atlanta Braves got a scare on Friday night when trainers went to get Ronald Acuña Jr out of right field prior to the first pitch of the bottom of the 8th inning, with the team later announcing that he was removed for "right calf tightness" .

But Ronald, speaking to reporters after the game through translator Franco Garcia, characterised the issue as minor and even said he may play on Saturday.

"I feel good. It just felt like a cramp. We'll just see how I come in tomorrow and how I'm feeling and if I can play."

When asked a follow-up about if fans should be concerned about his availability, Acuña said not really, because his goal was to be in the lineup. "I feel like, independently from whatever's happening, I want to play and be in the lineup, despite whatever pain I'm going through. But we'll see what the trainers have to say."

NL Wild Card Standings

The Atlanta Braves have won the NL East, but we're closely watching the Wild Card race as Atlanta will play the winner of the Wild Card series pitting the top two wild card finishers in the Divisional Round.

Team	Record	WC Standings	Action Today
Philadelphia	80-67	+4.0	@ Cardinals
Chi Cubs	78-70	+1.5	@ Diamondbacks
Arizona	77-72	--	vs Cubs
Cincinnati	77-72	--	@ Mets
Miami	76-72	0.5	vs Braves
San Francisco	75-72	1.0	@ Rockies

We Wrote It

In our takeaways, we talked about how the pitching staff faltered in this one and it's the worst time to do that if you're trying to lock down a role for the postseason:

Atlanta pitchers gave up nine runs on thirteen hits in this one, with seven of the thirteen going for extra bases.
Bryce Elder and Brad Hand took the brunt of the damage in this one, with each pitcher getting tagged for four runs in their outings. (The big difference being, obviously, that Elder's was over five innings and Hand's was 1/3rd of an inning, with three hits and a walk).
As we get closer to the postseason, there's going to be lots of evaluation happening about which pitchers deserve postseason roster spots and what roles they'll play. Tonight didn't help, but the book's not closed on either pitcher.

Read the whole thing here: Takeaways from Atlanta's series opening loss to Miami

What's next for the Atlanta Braves?

Atlanta's back in the saddle on Saturday afternoon, with Jared Shuster the expected starter. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM ET, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Southeast.

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