Ronald Acuña clearly to blame for JT Realmuto inside-the-park homer (Video)

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña failed to back up Michael Harris II on JT Realmuto’s inside-the-park home run.

As the right fielder on the play, it was Ronald Acuña’s job to back up rookie Michael Harris II as he went for a tough fly ball off JT Realmuto’s bat. Harris II took an odd route to the ball, which led to a tough miss on the play.

Acuña didn’t make the read on the fly ball, otherwise he would’ve been around to back up Harris II and hit the cutoff man, thus avoiding an inside the parker. Instead, Harris II had to run down the ball on his own accord, which took far too much time.

Yes, that was a ridiculous bounce off the wall in the deepest part of the ballpark. But a player of Acuña’s ilk has to understand where to be in that situation. Instead, he was nowhere to be found.

Ronald Acuña deserves blame from Braves fans

Plenty of Atlanta baseball fans noticed Acuña was lounging on the play, which made his lack of awareness look even worse.

Obviously, Realmuto would’ve been standing at third either way. But as a catcher, he had no business running all the way around the bases and scoring a run on his own accord.

Acuña is supposed to be a leader of this team. It’s time he practices what he preaches, bum elbow or not.

Atlanta fans have to hope that Acuña makes up for his mistake at the plate, or else he’ll be left answering questions in the locker room postgame, and headed home as a result.

Defensive misplays are tough to come back from, and can be ill-afforded in elimination games.