Acuña responds to off-day with 1st 3-hit game of the year

ATLANTA -- Ha-Seong Kim produced an improbable walk-off hit on Wednesday and Chris Sale constructed one of the most impressive starts of the year to complete a three-game sweep of the Dodgers on Thursday.

But there have been a few other key recent developments for the Braves, who claimed a fifth straight victory with a 6-4 win over the Rockies on Friday night at Truist Park. This winning streak has provided Atlanta a 5 1/2-game lead over the second-place Phillies in the National League East.

Here are a few of the positive trends the Braves have been seeing through this run:

Good day off?
Manager Walt Weiss sat a struggling Ronald Acuña Jr. on Thursday and saw the 2023 NL MVP respond with his first three-hit game of the season on Friday. Acuña produced a 110.8 mph exit velocity with his sixth-inning single and a 108.3 mph exit velocity with a fifth-inning double tallied just ahead of Michael Harris II’s two-run homer.

Acuña’s double came against Tomoyuki Sugano’s 92.8 mph four-seam fastball. That’s encouraging given that he entered the game having hit just .119 with three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer) against four-seamers this year.

It hasn’t just been high velo that has bothered Acuña this season. He entered the night hitting .125 (2-for-16) in his plate appearances that have concluded against four-seamers thrown 93 mph or softer.

Catchin’ heat
Sean Murphy is one of the game’s top defensive catchers, and he may regain some of his previous offensive promise when given regular playing time. Drake Baldwin is one of the Braves’ most valuable offensive players. To minimize the wear and tear on Baldwin’s legs, there’s a benefit to using him as a designated hitter instead of at catcher in at least half of the remaining games.

Weiss revealed his plan to go this route before Wednesday’s game against the Dodgers. Murphy entered that day hitting .136 (6-for-44) with one extra-base hit. He’s since gone 5-for-8 with two doubles and a homer.

Murphy’s two-out RBI double keyed Atlanta’s three-run second inning on Friday. Baldwin recorded two singles and has tallied multiple hits in three of his past four games.

Power back?
Harris doubled during the big second inning and highlighted his multihit performance with his 22nd homer of the season. His two-run shot gives him a pair of home runs within his past five games.

Before going deep in the ninth inning of Sunday’s Little League Classic win over the Brewers, Harris was in the midst of a 20-game homerless streak.

Harris never hit more than 20 homers before this season. But if this week has been a sign of things to come, the 25-year-old could make a serious bid for 30 homers.