Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker will continue to support Ronald Acuna Jr. despite a pair of questionable incidents on the basepaths Thursday in Game 1 of the NLDS.
The star outfielder had to settle for a single in the seventh inning after a lack of hustle cost him a double on a fly ball that had a chance to leave the yard. Then in the ninth, Acuna got under the skin of St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez after celebrating a home run in an eventual Atlanta loss.
Snitker said Friday that he sat down with the 21-year-old to talk about the two plays.
"It was a good conversation. It’s not the first time, obviously," Snitker said, according to 680 The Fan. "My gist of it to him, without expanding on anything is, I’m not going to give up on this kid. I’m going to go to the end of the Earth trying to help this guy."
"That bothered me too," the skipper added when asked about Acuna's home run trot, according to 680 The Fan's Kevin McAlpin. "It's a shame (that) myself, his teammates, have to address this. We shouldn't be talking about this ... he had a great evening.
"We should be talking about that, not addressing this issue."
The All-Star's effort was also questioned by teammates, who were frustrated that something like that happened again.
Acuna was pulled in a regular-season contest in August after failing to run out a fly ball and was told by Snitker at the time that it wasn't acceptable.
