ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves reached .500 for the first time all season, and did it on the same night that Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a home run in the first game of his minor-league rehab assignment.
Yeah, it was a good night for the Braves, a great one even, in a season that’s not been brimming with those.
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“Huge,” said rookie catcher Drake Baldwin, who had three hits, including a double and a two-run homer to help beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 and become the fifth team in MLB history to start a season 0-7 and get to .500 at any point in that season. “Since that 0-7 streak, it seems like we started to get going.
“We faced some tough teams early, but getting back to .500, like, we’re right back in it. Continue to do what we’re doing and I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
.@ronaldacunajr24 goes yard in his first rehab start! pic.twitter.com/e5ZFhb9jSF
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 13, 2025
The Braves (21-21) failed in five previous chances to reach .500. But after a 4-3 walk-off win in Monday’s series opener with the Nationals, when the Braves set a major-league record with seven consecutive games of alternating one-run losses with one-run wins, they mercifully ended that nerve-racking streak by scoring the last three runs Tuesday to pull away.
That included an eighth-inning RBI single from Ozzie Albies after he’d snapped a career-worst 0-for-28 skid with a sixth-inning single.
“I kind of feel like we just started playing baseball the way we were capable,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, whose team is 21-14 since it’s 0-7 start, the NL’s second-best record in that span, even if it hasn’t felt like it with all the low-scoring games and offensive struggles.
“It was a rough start, obviously. But I’m proud of how the guys have hung in there,” Snitker said. “I mean, yeah, we’re .500. It’s kind of cool, but it doesn’t mean anything. But we’re just playing better, more consistent.”
Also, Snitker said, “We’re still a ways away from hitting on all cylinders. But I kind of feel like maybe that’s good. That we can do what we did to get back there and still, as I’ve said many times, I think our best baseball is ahead of us.”
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The Braves won Tuesday against a starter with a 7.20 ERA, one who Snitker, his coaches and a few Braves veterans were quite familiar with. They faced Michael Soroka, the former top Braves prospect who was a 2019 All-Star as a rookie, before his career was stalled by a string of injuries, including a twice-torn Achilles.
Soroka lasted four innings and gave up two runs on Baldwin’s fourth-inning homer. It was the fifth homer for Baldwin in his first 25 major-league games. It was also his second start in a three-day span, something he’d not done since veteran catcher Sean Murphy returned from the IL in the 10th game of the season. Snitker had said the hot-hitting Baldwin would start to play more, and will start again Thursday in the finale of the four-game series.
Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach had his second consecutive strong start (seven innings, four hits, two runs) after a string of four that were, by his lofty standards, either mediocre or bad.
Among teams to reach .500 after starting a season 0-7, the Braves are the second-fastest to do it, in their 42nd game, behind only the 1945 Boston Red Sox, who got to .500 in their 38th game.
Among the other three teams to lose their first seven and get to .500 in that season were the 1980 Braves, who didn’t reach even until they were 63-63.
No MLB team has started the season 0-7 and made the playoffs, but the Braves think they are uniquely qualified to be the first. They believe that they are far better and more talented than their early performance and record indicate, and they also know Acuña should be back soon.
“Tonight was huge,” said third baseman Austin Riley, who had two hits, including an RBI single for a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. “I thought that our arms did well, we got some key hits and Baldwin looked really good. Just try to come in tomorrow and continue to build off of it.”
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Oh, and they had just found out what happened in North Port, Florida.
“Yeah, I did hear about Ronnie hitting a homer,” Riley said, smiling. “To get a guy like him back, it’s gonna be huge for us. And like I’ve said, just let (his rehab) run its course. And I’m sure he’s feeling good. I’m sure he’s excited. But let’s get him here and keep him here. But that was nice to see.”
Acuña’s next stop: Gwinnett
Imagine being 19-year-old Orioles prospect Kevin Velasco, entering a Florida Complex Rookie League game in the fifth inning and this is the second batter he faces: Venezuelan countryman Acuña, who’s even more of a megastar in the home country than in the United States.
The fifth pitch Velasco threw him was a 3-1 offering down the middle, and Acuña squared it up and drove it out of CoolToday Park, a liner over the center-field wall for a solo homer.
“That sounds about right,” Baldwin said after hearing of Acuña’s homer. “He’s an incredible player, so definitely the sooner he gets back, it’s better for all of baseball.”
It was Acuña’s third and final plate appearance in the first game of his rehab assignment, his first game of any kind for the right fielder since May 26, 2024, the day he tore the ACL in his left knee, three years after tearing the ACL in his right knee. Acuña had season-ending surgery the following week and began his rehab soon after.
Now, he’s back. Or he will be soon. Acuña played six innings Tuesday and will head to Triple-A Gwinnett for his next rehab game Thursday. The Braves haven’t said how soon he’ll rejoin them, but rehab assignments for position players can last a maximum of 20 days, and Acuña might not require the full 20 if Tuesday was any indication.
The Braves have taken a more cautious approach to his entire rehab than they did after his previous ACL tear, when he had surgery in late July 2021 and was back in the lineup nine months later. Acuña had soreness throughout the 2022 season, needed occasional rest for inflammation in the repaired knee, and didn’t feel confident in its stability when he rotated, which diminished his power as the season wore on.
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In that first season back from surgery, he hit just .266 with 15 homers and a .764 OPS in 119 games after hitting .281 with a .925 OPS in his previous four seasons while averaging 43 homers per 162 games.
But the following year, he had one of the greatest seasons in Braves history, batting .337 with 41 homers and 106 RBIs while leading the majors in stolen bases (73) and on-base percentage (.416) and leading the league in OPS (1.012). He was a unanimous choice for 2024 NL MVP over the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
After being cleared three weeks ago by his surgeon to resume full baseball activities, including full-speed running and cutting, Acuña spent time in Florida at the spring training site in North Port, getting ready for his rehab assignment.
The first game was against kids 7 to 8 years younger than him. Acuña grounded out leading off the first inning and lined out to the second baseman in the third inning, with both of those at-bats against Francisco Morao, another 19-year-old Venezuelan righty. After homering off Velasco in the fifth, Acuña played one more inning before being replaced, as planned.
He gave a couple of Venezuelan teen pitchers a memory they’ll likely cherish forever, and gave the Braves and their fans more reason to get excited about the return, sooner than later, of their best and most dynamic player.
(Top photo of Pierce Johnson and catcher Drake Baldwin: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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