Atlanta Braves phenom Ronald Acuña Jr. is one of the faces of MLB’s “Let the kids play” campaign, and on Sunday, he absolutely took those words to heart.
Acuña stepped to the plate in the ninth inning with a runner on and the Braves down two runs against the Reds’ Amir Garrett.
To start the at-bat, Acuña uncharacteristically took exception to a pair of strike calls from home-plate umpire Manny Gonzalez (and made a sarcastic remark to the umpire after taking a pitch well inside). Yet, the Braves outfielder managed to collect himself and battle back to a full count.
But given the high emotions of the at-bat, you knew Acuña had something in store if he came through with a big hit. And that he did.
Acuña got all of a 97 mph fastball, hitting an opposite-field home run to tie the game. But keep an eye on Acuña. He watched the ball the entire way, shouted, pounded his chest and then unleashed an emphatic bat flip.
Bat flips don’t get much better than that. It was good for Acuña’s 27th homer of the season.
