Braves rookie slugger Ronald Acuña was on an epic tear with 8 home runs in his last 8 games, and 3 leadoff home runs in his last 3, so last night Marlins pitcher Jose Ureña decided to kill all the fun by drilling Acuña to leadoff the game with a 97 MPH fastball because of baseball’s unwritten rule against cool stuff. Both benches subsequently cleared after the plunking, and Acuña eventually left the game with an elbow injury.
Benches clear in Marlins-Braves after José Ureña hits Ronald Acuña Jr. in 1st inning.
Acuña Jr. (5 straight games with HR, 3 straight with leadoff HR) exits in 2nd inning. pic.twitter.com/V2aSu97YEX
— MLB (@MLB) August 16, 2018
The move to hit Acuña was mostly ripped by baseball fans and MLB players as a punk move, but former Mets first baseman, current Mets analyst, and “old school baseball guy” Keith Hernandez wasn’t among them. During the Mets’ broadcast, Hernandez weighed in, saying he agreed with nailing Acuña because, well, he was just hitting too many home runs.
Hernandez knew the take would be unpopular, and did clarify he wasn’t advocating to throw at Acuña’s head, but this kind of attitude and dedication to baseball’s unwritten rules is a perfect example of why “baseball guy” is holding baseball back as a sport. Sports fans in 2018 want to see greatness and stars, not non-existent scores being settled.
This is what Keith Hernandez had to say about Urena hitting Acuna. 🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/xeLszYDpic
— Kris Venezia (@KVenezia1) August 16, 2018