1 hour ago 1

Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr. grants Chris Sale's wish as home run floodgates open after slow start

Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr. grants Chris Sale's wish as home run floodgates open after slow start originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Atlanta Braves just finished a 4-2 road trip through Boston and Cincinnati. However, the biggest development for Atlanta was Ronald Acuña Jr. finally heating up after a slow start to the season.

It all began on Thursday when Acuña launched a grand slam over the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The moonshot that landed in the street has sparked an incredible power surge.

“Acuña had reason to celebrate when he drilled a grand slam over the Green Monster in the decisive five-run sixth inning of a 10-2 Braves win over the Red Sox on Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park. This was just his third homer of the season and first since April 24,” MLB.com’s Mark Bowman wrote.

On Sunday, Acuña blasted his fifth home run in four games with a leadoff shot for the Braves. He is quickly looking like the superstar version of himself once again.

“Acuña mashed Nick Lodolo’s first pitch of Atlanta's 6-4 loss to Cincinnati Sunday a StatCast-projected 438 feet off the message board facade in deep left-center at Great American Ball Park for his seventh home run of the season, his fourth of the series and his fifth in the last four games to stake the Braves to a 1-0 lead,” MLB.com’s Mike Petraglia wrote.

As it turns out, Chris Sale may have spoken Acuña’s hot streak into existence. After Acuña’s grand slam on Thursday, Sale expressed hope that it would be the beginning of something bigger. So far, it looks like he got exactly what he wanted.

“Pretty safe to say Chris Sale got his wish. After Acuña’s grand slam on Thursday, Sale said, “I’m hoping that’s the one that opens the floodgates.” Acuña’s leadoff homer today was his fifth home run in his past 10 at-bats,” Bowman posted.

The Braves offense has been one of the best in baseball throughout the season, but Acuña had not been producing at his usual level. Now that he appears to be locked in, Atlanta’s lineup has another gear it can reach, which is a scary thought for the rest of the league.

Whether it was a wish being granted or Sale simply speaking it into existence, Acuña is on an absolute tear right now. In fact, the Braves’ off day on Monday may be the only thing capable of slowing him down. This is the version of Acuña Atlanta has been waiting to see, and Sale might deserve a little credit for helping ignite it.

More MLB news:

Read Entire Article