Takeaways: Ronal Acuna Jr. Continues to Make History in Loss to Nats
Ronald Acuna Jr. wasn't in the game long for the Atlanta Braves 10-6 loss to the Washington Nationals on Friday night, but he was in there long enough to make more history.
The Nationals flipped the script on the Braves in Friday's game homering five times while the Braves didn't get a single home run as they try to set the single-season team record for home runs in a season.
Brian Snitker decided to rest a couple of guys to start the game in Orlando Arcia and Michael Harris, and then later took out Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson.
Acuna Jr. Steals His Way Into Braves History
The soon-to-be NL MVP was only in the game for 3 innings - two at-bats - on Friday night but during that brief time he got a hit, scored a run, drove in a run, and stole 2 base.
The two stolen bases tie him with Otis Nixon for the most stolen bases in a single season by a Braves player since 1900 with 72.
Otis was in the house on the night watching Acuna tie his record. We'll see if he gets a chance to break it in the next two games.
Allan Winans Blasted in His Final Start of 2023
It's been an amazing season with the 27-year-old Winans who was one of the better starters all year at Triple-A, made his big league debut, and had a handful of good starts with the big league club.
This felt like an audition for a potential start in the postseason, and he looked good for the most part.
He only gave up six hits over 5.1 innings, but three of them left the yard. The big blow was a 3-run shot following a couple of soft singles.
Whether he gets a shot in the postseason or not, he has to be happy with how his 2023 season went.
Racking up the Hits Without the Homers
I would venture to guess there haven't been many nights -- if any -- where the Braves offense piles up 17 hits and not a single one of them was a home run.
When you take out Acuna and Olson your chances of homering go down, but that's a lot of hits without a homer.
Only 2 of those 17 hits went for extra bases -- a double by Marcell Ozuna and a triple by Ozzie Albies.
Spencer Strider takes the mound on Saturday looking to break history himself. With 4 strikeouts he'll break John Smotlz's single-season record for strikeouts.
That game will begin at 7:20 PM CT with the Nationals sending Joan Adon to the mound.