MIAMI — The solely Major League pitcher who has been in a position to decelerate Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023 is a … place participant?
With the Marlins trailing huge within the ninth inning of Wednesday evening’s 14-6 loss at loanDepot park, supervisor Skip Schumaker despatched catcher Jacob Stallings to the mound. Leadoff batter Kevin Pillar reached on a swinging bunt, however Stallings induced a 5-6-3 double play off the bat of Sam Hilliard. Then got here famous Marlins killer Acuña, who was named the National League Player of the Month earlier within the day.
Since his Major League debut in 2018, Acuña has put up first-ballot Hall of Fame numbers towards 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 video games. He added to that with a three-run shot that chased lefty Braxton Garrett within the fifth.
“I tried to have more fun with it this time than I did [against the] Twins [on April 3],” stated Stallings, who additionally appeared on the mound as soon as 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 on the first pitch, coming into Wednesday with an .875 OPS and 54 profession homers to open a plate look. But he stared at Stallings’ 46.3 mph curveball within the zone. All the 25-year-old celebrity might do was shake his head, snicker and wave his arm in exasperation.
“I wasn’t super nervous for the first pitch,” Stallings stated. “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 adopted it up with the next:
The closing pitch caught the decrease a part of the zone to freeze Acuña for Stallings’ first profession strikeout.
“I don’t like being in that situation,” Acuña stated 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 instantly laid his bat close to the plate, whereas Stallings requested for the ball from catcher Nick Fortes. Marcell Ozuna, Ozzie Albies and Vaughn Grissom watched in disbelief, able to rib their teammate as he walked previous the Braves’ dugout.
“He was nervous,” stated 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 profession strikeout by getting then-Braves slugger Freddie Freeman to signal the ball. Stallings would really like Acuña to do the identical, however since he doesn’t know him like that, the catcher considered 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,” stated Schumaker, who struck out three batters in 4 profession outings. “It’s robust to snicker while you’re getting your butt kicked, however there’s some human moments which might be nonetheless cool to see. And he’ll hold that ball eternally, I’m positive, and have an image subsequent to it or one thing [to] have him signal. That is a cool second.
“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.”
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