Acuna’s casual baserunning irks Braves after Game 1: ‘He needs to do better’

Ronald Acuna Jr. has once again raised some eyebrows with his lack of hustle on the bases.

The Atlanta Braves outfielder led off the seventh inning of Game 1 of the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, mashing a long fly ball to the right-field corner that nearly turned into a home run. It should have been an easy double, but Acuna was slow to get up the line in anticipation of a round-tripper and instead ended up with a long single.

The slow trot came back to bite the Braves when the next hitter, Ozzie Albies, grounded out. Acuna advanced to second on the play but would have been 90 feet from scoring had he legged out for the double. He was then doubled off second when Josh Donaldson lined out to the shortstop to end a promising inning.

Acuna’s gaffe came under the microscope a half-inning later when St. Louis tied the game. The Cardinals then scored four runs in the ninth to take the lead. Although Acuna homered late, St. Loius held on to take Game 1 by a score of 7-6.

With Van McCoy long gone, who is left that a respectable person would contact concerning hustle?