Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr will miss the remainder of the season after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee throughout Sunday’s 8-1 victory at Pittsburgh.
The reigning NL MVP led off the sport with a double to right-center subject off Martín Pérez. With Marcell Ozuna on the plate, Acuña began towards third on a stolen base try and his left knee gave approach. Acuña remained down for a number of minutes whereas being handled, pointing at his left leg earlier than strolling off beneath his personal energy.
The Braves’ preliminary analysis was left knee soreness. However the group introduced on Sunday night time that an MRI confirmed a whole ACL tear that can require season-ending surgical procedure.
Acuña tore his proper ACL in July 2021, ending his season on that event – the Braves went on to the win the World Sequence. Sporting a brace within the clubhouse after Sunday’s win, the 26-year-old outfielder stated this harm felt much less extreme.
“[I] don’t really feel that painful, any pop or something … Don’t assume it’s that dangerous,” Acuña stated.
Acuña stated he was trying to take third when he anticipated a gradual throw again to the mound from catcher Joey Bart. The toss got here in tougher than anticipated, resulting in an abrupt pivot again to second, throughout which his knee twisted.
Acuña was batting .250 with 4 homers and 15 RBIs in 49 video games. The four-time All-Star hit a career-best .337 final season with 41 homers and 106 RBIs.
Atlanta have been already lacking All-Star right-hander Spencer Strider, whose season ended on 13 April when he had inside brace surgical procedure to restore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. Third baseman Austin Riley is everyday with a left intercostal pressure, and catcher Sean Murphy stays on the 10-day injured record with an indirect harm after he was harm on opening day.
“It’s simply one thing that everyone goes by way of,” Snitker stated earlier than the outcomes of Acuña’s MRI have been introduced. “We’ve been by way of it earlier than. Personally, I simply hate it for the younger males that it impacts greater than us. These guys like to play the sport. When one thing occurs to these guys, I hate it for the people greater than us, fairly truthfully.”