Braves, Marlins managers condemn Acuna plunking

Miami Marlins right-hander Jose Urena made sure Atlanta Braves rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. wouldn't hit his fourth consecutive leadoff homer.

Miami Marlins right-hander Jose Urena made sure Atlanta Braves rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. wouldn't hit his fourth consecutive leadoff homer.

Acuna was drilled on the left elbow by Urena's first pitch Wednesday at Atlanta's SunTrust Park, causing benches to clear in the bottom of the first inning. Urena was ejected.

Both teams' managers later expressed their disapproval of Urena's pitch.

Acuna had homered leading off the first inning of each of the previous three games, and he had homered in five consecutive games overall. He wound up leaving the Wednesday contest following the first inning. X-rays were negative, and the results of a CT scan will be announced Thursday, the Braves announced.

Urena threw a 97 mph fastball -- the fastest pitch he's ever thrown to open a game, per ESPN Stats & Info -- down the middle of the right-handed batter's box. Acuna turned his back and braced for contact as the pitch approached, and he was hit in the elbow.

Acuna started to walk it off in foul territory before tossing his helmet on the ground and crouching in pain. Braves manager Brian Snitker and several players then emerged from the dugout, causing both benches to clear. Snitker had to be held back while yelling at Urena, and both were eventually ejected.

"People get upset and things like that, but I got upset, too, because how am I going to wait five days to go out there and make one pitch and get kicked out of the game?" Urena told reporters after the contest. "That doesn't make sense, right? Always, I throw inside. That's my way to get outs. I go inside and try to take advantage and try to move (the batter's) feet, and that's the thing."

Acuna received attention from trainers during the fracas and returned from the dugout to take first base when play resumed several minutes later, but he was removed and replaced by Adam Duvall after the first inning.

Snitker said postgame of Acuna's condition, "They're checking him out. He's sore. The arm, where he got hit, was cramping. ... We'll know more tomorrow.

"I don't think it was a direct funny-bone elbow hit. I don't know. It was more of a cramping thing, I think, that led him to come off the field."

Snitker added of Urena's pitch, "You know, that's a shame. The young man (Acuna) is just playing the game, doing what he loves to do, and it's a damn shame what happened that first pitch of the game.

"What happens if they hit him there and it breaks his elbow and he's done for the year? What we're trying to accomplish here, where we're at, there's no reason for that. ... That was just completely, unbelievably uncalled for."

Referring to running onto the field after the hit-by-pitch, Snitker said, "He is my kid and I am going to protect him. ... I've never felt like that in a baseball uniform. That kid didn't deserve that."

Marlins manager Don Mattingly agreed with that assessment.

"What we said with Jose is, 'I don't want to see this kid get hit.' He's a great player," Mattingly said postgame. "He's going to be great for a long time. For us, he's beat us up, but this is not the way we want to handle that situation.

"Obviously, this is not something that we represent or believe in as an organization or me, too. I would never want that kid getting hit and cause that kind of problem."

Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said, "I know that wasn't the Marlins. That was just Jose Urena. I don't understand it. Makes no sense; just because a player is having fun playing the game, swinging the bat incredibly well, obviously. That just makes no sense. That was incredibly classless on Jose Urena's part."

Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto dwelled on the negatives of the act.

"It worked out terrible for our team," Realmuto said. "The fact that (our bullpen has) been taxed the last week, really. Guys have been used a lot and having to come in and throw eight innings for this game, when Jose's usually a guy you can get six or seven out of, it really taxed the 'pen. Luckily we have an off-day tomorrow, so those guys can get some rest."

Right-hander Elieser Hernandez took over on the mound for Urena.

Acuna, a 20-year-old rookie phenom, became the youngest player ever to homer in four straight games, then pushed the record to five straight on Tuesday, when he hit a pair of homers in Atlanta's 10-6 win over Miami.

He was 8-for-13 with four homers, nine RBIs and two walks in the first three games of the series -- all Braves victories -- entering Wednesday's finale. Acuna has eight homers in his past eight games and 19 on the season.

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