PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies fans love to hate Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Braves star seems to love playing the villain role.
The boos Acuña has heard throughout this weekend grew louder as he admired a game-tying home run in the eighth inning of the Braves’ 5-4 comeback win over the Phillies on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. His three-run shot propelled Atlanta to a win that significantly strengthened its bid to win the National League East.
With the win, the Braves secured the tie-breaker against the Phillies as the Braves are now 7-2 vs. the Phillies this year with four games remaining between the two teams this season.
Instead of being doomed by a Mauricio Dubón error that plagued Tyler Mahle’s impressive start, the Braves awoke just in time to construct a rally that puts them five games in front of the second-place Phillies with just 19 games to play.
Ozzie Albies began the ninth with a double and scored on Austin Riley’s game-winning triple off All-Star closer Jhoan Duran. But the highlight of the comeback was the three-run shot Acuña hit against Alex McFarlane’s 100.5 mph fastball in the eighth.
Acuña's homer came off of the third-fastest pitch a Braves player has homered off of in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), behind Eddie Rosario's homer on a 101.2 mph pitch on Sept. 1, 2021 and Matt Olson's home run on a 101 mph pitch on April 10, 2022.
Acuña admired his Statcast-projected 414-foot shot from the batter’s box before beginning his customary home run trot that has irritated Phillies fans many times, as recently as Saturday night when the 2023 NL MVP took Zack Wheeler deep. He did his usual Euro Step in front of third base and put his hands over his ears as he made his way toward the plate.
Acuña’s 16th homer of the season preserved a great effort from Mahle, who allowed just two unearned runs over six innings. Dubón's throwing error accounted for the two unearned runs.