Braves get Ronald Acuña Jr. back, but get blown out by Mets

Hitting in his usually leadoff spot atop the Braves’ order, Acuña started Monday’s game by swinging and missing a cutter from Mets starter Zac Thornton, a lefty. Thornton threw another cutter, this on up-and-in, for a second strike, but Acuña battled back to work the count full before lining a sinker down the heart of the plate for a single into left field.

Acuña scored on Ozzie Albies’ two-out single between short and third.

Braves manager Walt Weiss said before Monday’s game that Acuña could be elsewhere in the order against a right-handed starting pitcher.

“There may be a little different look (Tuesday),” Weiss said. “The top half of our lineup is very left-handed. There’s some things you could do to try to split that up a little bit. It’s something I’ve thought about. May move some things around (Tuesday).”

In the bottom of the first, it didn’t take long for the ball to find Acuña on defense. Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor hit a deep fly ball that Acuna tracked to the wall before trying to make a leaping catch.

Acuña thought the ball had cleared the wall for a two-run homer, when it actually it had only hit the top of the barrier. AJ Ewing, who had begun the frame with a single, scored from first and Lindor never stopped running and wound up on third with a triple.

It was the first of two misadventures in the outfield for Acuña, who took a circuitous route on a flyball into the gap hit by Luis Torrens in the seventh that went for a ground-rule double after it bounced on the warning track.

In the second inning, with one out, Acuña swung at three offerings — fouling the second one off to the left — from Thornton for a quick strikeout. He said Saturday while with Triple-A Gwinnett how he had worked with (Braves Florida Complex League hitting coaches) Carlos Méndez and Einar Diaz on his swing, and reiterated Monday getting his timing down on pitches is still a work in progress.

Acuña’s third at-bat came with one out and catcher Joey Bart on first. He swung at the first pitch, a cutter on the inner half, and fouled the ball straight off his right knee. After hobbling about for a bit, and being checked on by Weiss and trainer George Pouiles, Acuña continued the at-bat only to ground into a 6-4-3, inning-ending double play four pitches later.

In the eighth inning of a 9-3 game, Daniel Duarte struck out Acuña on eight pitches with Acuña going to a knee after he swung through a sweeper low and away.

Martín Pérez started Monday’s game for the Braves, and after allowing the run-scoring triple to Lindor in the first, served up a two-run homer to Lindor in the third putting the Braves behind 3-1. Albies got those two runs right back in the top of the fourth with a two-run shot of his own, his 18th of the season and 175th of his career.

Pérez got Jared Young to take a 3-2 strike with two outs and the bases loaded to end the fifth. It was Perez’s last batter he would face having completed five innings, thrown 87 pitches and given up eight hits.

Left-hander Connor Thomas was summoned and gave up a single, two-run homer to Marcus Semien. Thomas gave up a three-run shot to Tyrone Taylor and a sacrifice fly to Bo Bichette in the seventh.

Thomas (0-1) walked in a run in the ninth, gave up a sacrifice fly, and then a three-run blast to Lindor who finished his night 3-for-5 with six RBIs.

In 2 2/3 innings, Thomas gave up 11 earned runs on 10 hits and five walks.