The Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins clearly do not like each other. This was made evident once again in Atlanta’s 9-5 come-from-behind win in Game 1 of their National League Division Series.
A lot of the tension centers around the way the Marlins pitching staff treats Braves lead-off batter Ronald Acuna Jr.
Acuna had a lead-off homer to start the game in the first inning, slowly walking to first base and tossing his bat as he watched the ball sail over the fence.
Then Miami starter Sandy Alcantara hit Acuna with a pitch in the third inning, a far too familiar scene when talking about these two teams. Acuna has now been hit by a Marlins pitcher five times in his career. He hasn’t been hit by pitchers from any other team more than twice.
The Braves claim that the plunking of Acuna woke up the team, and gave them the spark they needed to recover after trailing 4-1.
After Acuna was hit, the Braves got back-to-back doubles to cut the lead down to 4-3. They got two more singles in the seventh and Marcell Ozuna added another one to tie up the game. Travis d’Arnaud broke the game open with a three-run homer, putting the Braves up 7-4, after which Dansby Swanson added a two-run homer to seal the victory for the Braves.
