Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. left Tuesday’s game with an apparent injury.
Batting in the bottom of the third with two outs against Reds starter Brandon Williamson, Acuña swung at a 3-1 cutter and fouled the pitch off his left leg near the shin area. Acuña immediately crumpled to the ground, tried to get up to walk, and quickly fell back on the grass to the right of home plate.
Acuña was tended to by Braves head athletic trainer George Poulis and manager Walt Weiss. He walked off the field on his own and was replaced by pinch-hitter Brewer Hicklen.
The Braves later announced Acuña left the game with a shin contusion and X-rays were negative.
“He left to go get a (computed tomography) scan. They called and said that was negative, too. So good news,” Weiss said. “Very concerned at the time because he’s got two pads on his leg and I think it hit right in between, maybe caught a little bit of pad. And he hits the ball so hard that his foul balls off the feet and legs is not the same as the average Joe.
Acuña has already missed 52 games this season. He went on the injured list two separate times because of a hamstring injury.
Acuña was hitting .372 in his last 22 games before Tuesday — since Weiss gave him a day off Aug. 27 — with 20 RBIs, seven homers, six doubles, 10 walks and 16 runs scored. He is slugging .686 over that span with a 1.119 OPS.
Weiss said Acuña’s availability will be determined by how he feels before Wednesday’s game against the Reds at Truist Park.
“He’s gonna be sore. Obviously, we’ll err on the side of caution this time of the year,” Weiss added. “But all things considered, it’s good news. He’s not gonna make it worse or anything, like a pull or something. So, yeah, it’ll be totally based on how he’s feeling.”
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