Megan Turner
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When you’re up by 19 in the eighth inning, why not have some fun?
I think that’s what right-handed batter Ronald Acuña Jr. was thinking as he walked out of the dugout preparing for his sixth plate appearance of the game wearing a left-handed batter’s helmet.
Yahoo Sports reports the game was so out of hand, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Wilmer Difo was on the mound trying to eat an inning for the team’s bullpen. In what seemed to be an attempt to find a common ground with the position player pitcher, Acuña donned a left-handed batter’s helmet.
The Atlanta Braves won the game 20-1 on Friday, and it could have been even more entertaining if not for the quick intervention by manager Brian Snitker … and the unwritten rules of baseball.
Respecting a position player pitcher with a double-digit lead has become a contentious situation to be in and may have been best to avoid, Yahoo Sports reports. Acuña ended up striking out against the position player.
“He tried [to bat lefty],” Snitker said after the game, per The Athletic’s David O’Brien. “I told him I’ve got three grandkids I’ve got to put through college.”
Acuña played a big role in putting the Braves so far ahead, as he hit a second-inning grand slam to put them up 5-0 to mark his 14th homer of the season.
The win improved the team’s record to 21-24 on the season, third in the NL East, per Yahoo Sports.
I grew up a Pirates fan. I wish the Braves manager would have let him do it and that Acuna would have smacked a home run left handed. I’m for anything that embarrasses and shames the Pirates until Bob Nutting sells the team.
I’d rather the Pirates move and a AAA team play at PNC Park then see the Pirates continue to put a AA roster on the field under this ownership. The Pirates are an embarrassment and the worst franchise in North American professional sports.
Pretty pathetic of the Braves manager. Nothing will change for the better in baseball culture if stuck up pricks like him keep the unwritten rules in place.