The first game of the Atlanta Braves' crucial doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday did not get off to the start they'd hoped. First, starter AJ Smith-Shawver was forced to leave after just 2.2 innings of work with what seemed like it might be an elbow injury. As if that weren't bad enough, the team then lost outfielder Stuart Fairchild when a slide into second base left his pinky looking like this:
I'm not a doctor, but that seems ... not great. Nor is losing two starters to injury within the first five innings. But Braves manager Brian Snitker soon found a way to make things even worse. Into the game for Fairchild came none other than former NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., who had started the day on the bench as the team looks to ease him back into playing shape following last year's torn ACL.
Except, well, clearly they couldn't have cared that much about easing him back in, considering that the team was willing to thrust him in cold to the middle of a game. So which is it: Did Snitker put Acuña Jr.'s rehab plan at risk, or did he just hold Atlanta's most dangerous hitter out of the lineup in a crucial division game for no reason?
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Brian Snitker has some explaining to do after yanking Ronald Acuña Jr. around
Really, it has to be one of those two options. If Acuña Jr. isn't starting the first game because the Braves (understandably) don't want him playing 18 innings in one day just yet, fair enough — but then it should have been Alex Verdugo, rather than Acuña, who was Snitker's choice off the bench once Fairchild went down. Anything else would be woefully short-sighted, putting the future of the franchise at risk for a few innings in late May.
But if there's no reason to be concerned about Acuña taking on that much of a workload less than two weeks after making his season debut, then why wasn't he in the starting lineup in the first place? Atlanta ran out something closer to a split squad lineup this afternoon, with Eli White in left, Fairchild in right and Luke Williams at short.
That's hardly the group you want trying to win a key game against the division leaders, and it would look a lot different were Acuña placed at the top of it. It should come as no surprise that, in his first at-bat after coming into the game, Acuña laced an RBI single to left to help cut into the Phillies' lead. The only question now is what took Snitker so long.