MIAMI -- The only Major League pitcher who has been able to slow down Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023 is a … position player?

With the Marlins trailing big in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s 14-6 loss at loanDepot park, manager Skip Schumaker sent catcher Jacob Stallings to the mound. Leadoff batter Kevin Pillar reached on a swinging bunt, but Stallings induced a 5-6-3 double play off the bat of Sam Hilliard. Then came noted Marlins killer Acuña, who was named the National League Player of the Month earlier in the day.

Since his Major League debut in 2018, Acuña has put up first-ballot Hall of Fame numbers against the Marlins: a .313/.418/.634 slash line with 67 runs, 20 doubles, one triple, 23 homers, 60 RBIs and 18 stolen bases in 76 games. He added to that with a three-run shot that chased lefty Braxton Garrett in the fifth.

“I tried to have more fun with it this time than I did [against the] Twins [on April 3],” said Stallings, who also appeared on the mound once for the Pirates in 2019. “I threw a couple curveballs for strikes in warmups, so I was like, 'Might as well just put that out.' I really wanted to just get the first punchout, and when Pillar got that swinging bunt, [I thought], 'Maybe it's not meant to be.' I was just trying to have fun with it.”

Acuña notoriously loves swinging at the first pitch, entering Wednesday with an .875 OPS and 54 career homers to open a plate appearance. But he stared at Stallings’ 46.3 mph curveball in the zone. All the 25-year-old superstar could do was shake his head, laugh and wave his arm in exasperation.

“I wasn't super nervous for the first pitch,” Stallings said. “I was nervous that he would hit it 120 mph back in my face. That's what I was nervous for. I was just nervous that whole at-bat.”

Stallings followed it up with the following:

• 44.5 mph curveball inside (ball)
• 78.1 mph changeup (foul)
• 84.9 mph four-seamer

The final pitch caught the lower part of the zone to freeze Acuña for Stallings’ first career strikeout.

"I don't like being in that situation," Acuña said in Spanish. "It gets me nervous because I don't know what's going to happen. It's easier to hit a 100-mph fastball. I saw that last pitch at 120 mph."

Acuña immediately laid his bat near the plate, while Stallings asked for the ball from catcher Nick Fortes. Marcell Ozuna, Ozzie Albies and Vaughn Grissom watched in disbelief, ready to rib their teammate as he walked past the Braves’ dugout.

“He was nervous,” said Ozuna, who went deep twice on Wednesday. “He was telling us about that, but he said, ‘I don't want to strike out against any position player.’ In the past, Wilmer Difo struck him out at home when he was with the Pirates, so a strikeout again, a position player. I said, ‘[Go out] swinging right away. If he throws soft, swing it.’ And he didn't swing. He was making one swing, and one was a little harder. And then he throws a softer one, and then harder again, and [Acuña] froze. It was fun.”

In 2021, then-Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo commemorated his first career strikeout by getting then-Braves slugger Freddie Freeman to sign the ball. Stallings would like Acuña to do the same, but since he doesn’t know him like that, the catcher thought of asking Jorge Soler to request that of his former Braves teammate.

“Of all guys to punch out, one of the best players in the game, so that's why he probably held on to the ball,” said Schumaker, who struck out three batters in four career outings. “It's tough to laugh when you're getting your butt kicked, but there is some human moments that are still cool to see. And he'll keep that ball forever, I'm sure, and have a picture next to it or something [to] have him sign. That is a cool moment.

“When you have a position player out there, that means you're getting killed, right? So it's not the ideal situation. It's one of those catch-22 things: cool moment for Stallings, but overall, I don't want [to] throw any position players.”