The Braves have been careful not to comment about the Marcell Ozuna situation since the outfielder was arrested Saturday on domestic violence charges, including aggravated assault by strangulation in an alleged heinous incident involving his wife that Sandy Springs, Ga., police officers said they witnessed.
Advertisement
The case is expected to grind its way through the court system over the coming weeks and months, with the outfielder expected to get a lengthy suspension from Major League Baseball in addition to facing serious legal charges. It remains to be seen whether he’ll ever play again for the Braves, despite being just two months into a four-year, $65 million contract he signed in February.
And this is not to lump a domestic-violence situation in with the other circumstances the Braves have dealt with this year, because it’s obviously far more serious in every respect, most importantly in that it involves a family, including Ozuna’s wife, Genesis, and their three young children.
But it is another in a far-ranging set of situations that the team has faced, including key injuries and extended slumps by some stars. All are factors that contributed to a failure to get their record above .500 at any point this season, as did reduced payroll and corresponding lack of the type of bullpen depth the team had in 2020.
No contract extension yet for reigning MVP Freddie Freeman has also been a distraction, according to some in the organization, and perhaps contributed to a sluggish early season for Freeman, the unofficial team captain and face of the franchise since icon Chipper Jones retired following the 2012 season.
Now Ozuna. He was extremely popular with teammates, an integral part of the clubhouse and the National League home run and RBI leader in 2020 when he helped the Braves win their third consecutive NL East title and come within one game of advancing to the World Series.
Now more than ever, being able to compartmentalize could be essential for Braves players and coaches if the team hopes to prevent its season from spiraling.
The Braves did that Monday when they scored three runs in the first inning of a 5-3 win against the Washington Nationals to open a four-game series and seven-game homestand at Truist Park, where a near-capacity crowd of 37,668 was elated from the late-afternoon start into the evening.
Advertisement
They started the day 3 ½ games behind the division-leading New York Mets and two games under .500. And the last-place Nationals are to be followed into Truist by the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers before the Braves take another road trip to division foes Philadelphia and Miami.
“I don’t even think we’ve hit our stride yet,” said veteran pitcher Charlie Morton, who had a rough couple of innings in the fourth and fifth but managed a decent start – five innings, six hits, three runs, three walks. “But I know we’ve got a tough June coming up, some really good teams we’re going to play. I’m not going to say it’s going to make or break it, but going into July and looking back at how we did in June, I think this stretch coming up is going to either give us some momentum to finish that second half real well, or it’s going to be pretty tough. Because like I said, we’re playing some good teams.”
When manager Brian Snitker was asked before the game about his team being able to put aside other issues and focus on baseball at the park, he said, “You have to. It’s some things that we’re dealing with that probably a lot of us never have. I haven’t. … But that’s the good thing about baseball, is you have another game the next day that you can focus on and get your energies towards that end.”
They did that against the last-place Nationals, whom they’ve now beaten six times in seven games this season including six games in Washington.
After playing just one game in the previous four days in rainy New York — the Braves spent an off day there Thursday and had rainouts Friday and Sunday — they looked rejuvenated rather than rusty in the first inning against Washington’s Joe Ross, a pitcher they’ve had a lot of success against.
After a leadoff infield single from Ronald Acuña Jr. and consecutive walks by Freeman and Ozzie Albies, the Braves got a one-out sacrifice fly from Dansby Swanson, another walk by Abraham Almonte — who made his Braves debut playing the position Ozuna had before last week — and a two-out, two-run single from rookie catcher William Contreras.
Advertisement
Contreras still is a little rough around the edges behind the plate, but not when standing beside it, hitting.
“After a couple of off days and postponements, to come in and win the first game of the series is good, and hopefully we’ll keep winning,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “For us, it’s our job to just go out there with the mentality to keep the focus up and the energy, and just go out there and do our jobs.”
Asked about the injuries and other distractions the team dealt with during the past two months, Acuña said, “It is what it is and we are who we are. I think we’ve just got to focus on, like I said before, just doing our job and keeping the energy and the focus up, and just trying to win the baseball games.”
The Braves staked Morton to a 3-0 lead and raised their majors-leading first-inning scoring total to 47 runs, which is 13 more than they’ve scored in any other inning.
After getting blown out Saturday in the only game they played in New York, then getting rained out Sunday, Morton said, “It was nice to come home. The (Memorial Day) ceremony today before the game, the fans are out here, so to take that early lead – luckily I didn’t give up all of our lead – and then to be able to add on to it, yeah, it was a good win. A good way to win.
“And I’m just hoping we take some momentum into that Dodger series, too.”
Acuña pushed the margin to 4-0 in the second inning with his 16th home run, tied for the major-league lead.
Ross is 1-5 with a 6.53 ERA in nine games, including eight starts, against the Braves, who’ll face a far more challenging opponent Tuesday when the Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg starts against Max Fried.
Morton gave up three runs in the fourth. A leadoff walk to Juan Soto was followed by a two-run homer by Josh Bell on an 0-2 fastball left over the middle of the plate. Ross delivered a two-run single before Morton struck out Trea Turner to strand two runners with a one-run lead.
Advertisement
Usually a Braves nemesis, Turner went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts Monday. Morton had six strikeouts, three of them against Turner.
The Braves used three singles to add a run in the sixth, including consecutive two-out hits from Contreras and Guillermo Heredia, who provides more of a threat than others the Braves have used in center field this season. That list includes offensively overmatched prospect Christian Pache, who’s currently on injury rehab in Triple A, and Ender Inciarte.
And with the way Ozuna was hitting, coupled with his below-average outfield arm, the Braves might get at least a temporary spark with Almonte in left field, even if the 31-year-old journeyman doesn’t have anything comparable to Ozuna’s track record or the presence that Ozuna provided last season hitting behind Freeman when both were at their best.
Almonte was hungry for an opportunity and is going to get it.
Though just a .237 career hitter with a .668 OPS in 1,151 plate appearances with five MLB teams over the previous eight seasons, Almonte was raking at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he hit a take-notice .403 (25-for-62) with a 1.167 OPS and four doubles, three homers and 19 RBIs in 19 games.
He led the Triple-A East in walks (21) and on-base percentage (.554) before Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos decided this weekend to get Almonte, who was a non-roster player, to Atlanta.
“You look at what he’s done recently — Alex thought, give him a chance,” Snitker said after the roster move was announced Monday afternoon. “Just look at the numbers (at Gwinnett), every day it was something really good. The reports down there were, the guy’s locked in. He’s hot. … So we go ahead and give this guy an opportunity.”
The Braves made room on the 40-man roster by transferring pitcher Huascar Ynoa from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL, an insignificant move given that Ynoa was likely to be out until mid-August after breaking a bone in his pitching hand when he punched a dugout seat in frustration May 16. Ynoa had been the Braves’ best starter —not to mention the best-hitting pitcher in the majors — before his self-inflicted injury.
Advertisement
The Braves opened on the major-league roster for Almonte by optioning reliever Jay Flaa to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Ozuna’s performance in last year’s 60-game season convinced the Braves and Anthopoulos to give him a longer and more lucrative deal than they’ve given anyone else in recent years. He slumped badly this season and was hitting just .213 with a .645 OPS before breaking two fingers on his left hand May 25 in Boston when he caught his hand on an infielder’s cleat while sliding.
Ozuna was on the 10-day IL and back home in suburban Atlanta while the team was in New York on Saturday when word quickly spread of his arrest and details of the incident began to trickle in soon after. It cast a pall over basically everything with the team before it returned to start its homestand.
But playing against a struggling team they’ve handled recently and a pitcher they like facing, the Braves gave the near-capacity crowd and all those watching at home on the holiday plenty to cheer about. At a time when Braves Country absolutely needed something to feel good about with the team.
(Photo of Pablo Sandoval, Ronald Acuna Jr.: Jeff Robinson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kW9pbW5iZXxzfJFqZmltX2h%2BcMPIrZ9mm5ykwqV5x5qloKGenHqwwsSrZK2dkaJ6s7vNmqOdZZGYwq%2BtjKOpZpmemXqjvsCvnKxll5rBbq2MpqycoF2jsqawxJ1ksKGeZA%3D%3D