Braves, without injured Ronald Acuna Jr., seek series win over Royals
A disappointing season continues to get bleaker for the Atlanta Braves.
As All-Star Ronald Acuna Jr. heads to the injured list, the Braves must try to rebound from their latest defeat. They will visit the Kansas City Royals, who finally have some consistent offense, in the rubber game of a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
With fellow star Marcell Ozuna the subject of persistent trade rumors leading up to the Thursday trade deadline, the Braves sit 16 games under .500 and have lost eight of their past 10 games. Their season got even worse when Acuna left in the sixth inning Tuesday of a 9-6 loss because of Achilles tightness.
Braves manager Brian Snitker announced after the game that Acuna, who homered Monday during a 10-7 win over the Royals and is batting .306, will go on the 10-day IL. Acuna said he hurt himself scoring from first base on Monday but felt well enough to start Tuesday.
'It's an injury. I'm worried,' Acuna said through an interpreter. 'They are going to examine me (Wednesday), and we'll see how it goes.'
Ozuna, meanwhile, has two home runs and five RBIs in the series, but it's uncertain if he still will be wearing a Braves uniform at the end of the week.
Despite their current state, the Braves can still win their first series since July 11-13.
Claimed off waivers on July 11 after being designated for assignment by the Minnesota Twins, left-hander Joey Wentz (2-2, 5.76 ERA) will make his third start for the Braves, who are plagued by a depleted rotation.
On his fourth team since debuting in 2022, Wentz threw four scoreless innings in his first Atlanta start July 19, pitching in his team's 12-9 loss to the New York Yankees. Then on Friday at Texas, he yielded four runs (three earned) and four hits over 4 1/3 innings in an 8-3 setback.
Wentz has faced the Royals six times (two starts) in his career and has a 1-0 record and 4.86 ERA.
Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr is 0-for-7 against Wentz. However, Witt had two RBI singles Tuesday and is batting .303 during an eight-game hitting streak.
Kansas City sits two games under .500 and still ranks in the bottom half of the majors in runs (392), batting (.245), slugging percentage (.384), on-base percentage (.301) and home runs (92), but the team has 16 homers and has averaged 6.2 runs during a current 6-3 stretch. On Tuesday, Kyle Isbel's three-run double highlighted a five-run sixth inning and Vinnie Pasquantino homered for one of his three hits.
'We're just competing every single pitch. The energy is there every single night,' Isbel told FanDuel Sports Network. 'We're just giving our all every day.'
Pasquantino has three home runs and eight RBIs in his past six games.
The Royals, also dealing with injuries to their rotation, appear slated for a bullpen game Wednesday. They will start reliever Angel Zerpa (3-1, 4.15 ERA), who pitched one scoreless inning against the New York Mets on July 12. He has made 44 relief appearances for the season.
Right-hander Thomas Hatch, called up from Triple-A Omaha after Kansas City designated 45-year-old Rich Hill for assignment Tuesday, could make his first major league appearance since 2023 in the series finale.
He has a 4-4 career record and a 4.96 ERA in 39 games (six starts) with the Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates.
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