Zack Short comes up big in place of injured Austin Riley; Ronald Acuña Jr. picked off again

Source: The New York Times

ATLANTA -- With third baseman Austin Riley out of the lineup Monday due to inflammation in his left side, the Atlanta Braves turned to Zack Short, whose .169 career average in parts of four major-league seasons looked decent only compared with the .063 average he had this season in 21 plate appearances with three teams.

Strong defense or not, Short said a few hours before Monday's game, "I would like to hit a little bit more than I have."

And then he did.

Short followed Travis d'Arnaud's two-out double in the sixth inning with a double of his own, driving in the first run of the Braves' 2-0 win against the Chicago Cubs in a series opener at Truist Park. He had a game-winning RBI in his first start for the Braves, after coming from the Boston Red Sox in a Thursday trade for cash.

"Big, yeah -- it's great," Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the hit from Short, who also had a walk Monday. "He made a nice play going deep (behind) third base, too. That was a good at-bat. He has good at-bats; he extends them, takes walks. That was big, obviously."

Snitker and the Braves hope -- no offense to Short -- there won't be many more games he needs to start at third. They want to get their All-Star slugger Riley back as soon as possible and were encouraged after an MRI of his side Monday showed only inflammation, not an oblique strain that would require a stint on the injured list.

"It'll be day to day," Snitker said. "They'll treat him up tomorrow and see where he's at. Obviously, we'll be cognizant of that (situation). But the MRI is just showing inflammation; it's a good thing. Now it's just going to be maintenance and day-to-day type thing."

Asked whether the MRI results ruled out a possible IL stint, Snitker said, "Right now, yeah."

Before Monday, Short was 1-for-16 with four walks, eight strikeouts and a sacrifice bunt in 13 games with the Red Sox, New York Mets and Braves, for whom he debuted as a sub when Riley left Sunday's game against the Mets in the middle of the fourth inning. Short had two walks in that game, scored two runs, and stole a base.

Then came Monday, when the 28-year-old journeyman made his sixth start of the season, including three at third base for the Mets and one apiece at second and third for the Red Sox.

"This year was obviously a little bit different -- it's the least I've played, I think, in my career," said Short, who got the majority of his 475 career plate appearances during the 2021 and 2023 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, including 110 games played in 2023 when he hit .204 with seven homers in 253 plate appearances.

"In Detroit we were pinch hitting a lot, going in late in the games," he said. "And it wasn't like that in New York. It was similar to here, where guys are (playing) every day. So again, that's a learning curve in itself to get your body right. It's kind of feeling like you're going to play every day, even though you're probably not. Just always staying ready. If I didn't prepare like I was going to get in every game, I would be doing myself a disservice, and my teammates too.

"It wouldn't be fair to myself or them if I didn't prepare like that. Obviously, it sucked to have Austin go down like that, but it's kind of just next man up and be ready to go."

The Braves will be pleased if he stays ready. But they'll be happier if he's not needed at third base for more than another couple of days.

Ronald Acuña Jr. was picked off first base by Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga after leading off the first inning Monday with a walk, remarkably the third time in two nights that he was picked off at first base. It happened both times Acuña reached base Sunday against the Mets at New York, after he singled and walked.

Monday made it three consecutive times he was picked off after reaching base, and an MLB-leading four times this season, all since May 1. That's astounding for anyone, not to mention for a player who led the majors in stolen bases in 2023 with 73 steals during his National League MVP season.

"What can I say, I was definitely caught by surprise those times I got picked off," Acuña said through the team interpreter. "There's no excuse for it. It's part of the game, but like I said, there's no excuse, and those are missed opportunities for the team. It's just something that I'm gonna have to get better at."

Ozzie Albies was also picked off in the fifth inning.

Acuña was the first Braves player to be picked off in consecutive games since Quilvio Veras did the dubious feat in games June 7-8, 2001, at the Montreal Expos and New York (Mets). Acuña is the first major leaguer to be picked off three times in two games since Scott Podsednik of the Chicago White Sox in 2005.

Snitker, when asked whether he thought it was lack of concentration by Acuña, said, "I don't know. It's just something, even when Ozzie got picked off, it's just something we're gonna have to be more aware and address this. Because we're not swinging the bats well enough to give away outs. And those guys are aware of it. We'll have to clean it up."

Asked whether he said anything to Acuña afterward, Snitker replied, "I don't think he felt real good about it. He didn't mean to. But we'll address it and it'll get better."

With Acuña taking his usual lead and leaning slightly toward second base, Imanaga caught him off guard and Acuña was late reacting to the throw. He tried to get back standing up, rather than diving and possibly getting under the tag.

He was initially called safe, but the Cubs challenged, and video replay showed he was tagged before touching the base with his foot. The call was overturned for the second out of the inning, which proved costly when Marcell Ozuna drew a walk and Matt Olson followed with a single. Instead of that hit driving in a run, there were two runners on base when Adam Duvall struck out to end the inning in a scoreless game.

Asked whether he was being too aggressive, Acuña said, "Yeah, that could definitely be it. That could be a part of it, maybe just trying to be a little too aggressive, and that's how they've been able to pick me off.

Acuña had a routine flyout to right field with bases loaded to end the fourth inning of a then-scoreless game against Imanaga, who trimmed his ERA to 0.96 with five scoreless innings despite allowing seven hits and three walks.

The lefty used 98 pitches to record 15 outs and was replaced to start the sixth inning by Hayden Wesneski, whom the Braves got to for two runs on the two-out doubles from d'Arnaud and Short, followed by an RBI single from Acuña.

Braves starter Reynaldo López matched Imanaga with five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 71 pitches, leaving the game early because his back tightened. He walked the second and fourth batters of the fifth inning, and after a mound visit, López induced an inning-ending groundout.

He wanted to keep pitching, but Snitker said they weren't going to take any chances with López, who's been brilliant in his first season with the Braves. Snitker said he wouldn't miss a start.

López was replaced in the sixth by lefty Ray Kerr, who looked terrific in retiring all six batters in the sixth and seventh innings, including three strikeouts and two groundouts. Dylan Lee pitched a two-hit eighth before A.J. Minter got the call in the ninth instead of closer Raisel Iglesias or Joe Jiménez, both of whom were getting extra rest after pitching stressful innings in the weekend series at New York.

"Our eyes are on later, like three months from now, not today," Snitker said of resting relievers. "And we've just got to be careful with these guys. Other guys are going to have to step up, because we can't go get those guys (on the trade market)."

Minter, who gave up a walk-off two-run homer to Brandon Nimmo on Sunday at New York, allowed an infield single and a walk to start the ninth Monday, before getting Ian Happ to ground into a double play and a game-ending flyout from Nico Hoerner, who played shortstop in place of the injured Dansby Swanson.