Mindful of their history with Jose Urena, Ronald Acuna Jr and the Atlanta Braves settled the score by running it up.
Acuna celebrated a homer off Urena with a showy bat flip as the Braves rocked the Miami Marlins right-hander to win 7-1 on Friday.
Mike Soroka took a three-hit shutout into the ninth for Atlanta and won his seventh consecutive decision.
Photo: AFP
Urena was suspended for six games for intentionally hitting Acuna on the arm with a pitch in August last year, triggering a melee. That likely explains why Acuna showboated a bit when he homered in the fourth inning, carrying his bat most of the way to first base before tossing it high over his right shoulder.
Acuna blew a big gum bubble after rounding second base, then pointed into his dugout and shouted as he approached home plate.
Was the bat blip his best yet?
“I feel like I’ve got a better one lined up,” the Venezuelan said through a translator.
“If he feels good with that, good for him,” Urena said of the flip.
Urena (4-7) gave up 11 hits and six runs in three-plus innings, his shortest outing this year. He fell to 2-8 in 16 career appearances against Atlanta with an ERA of 6.64.
“It’s tough when you face a team that knows what you got and the way you work,” Urena said.
Acuna’s homer was his 13th. He also had a one-hop RBI single off the fence against Urena in the second and a run-scoring single off Taiwan’s Chen Wei-yin in the fifth.
Chen pitched two innings, conceding only that hit.
Soroka (7-1) lowered his ERA to 1.38. He retired 10 in a row before allowing a leadoff walk — his second — in the ninth and then departed.
That runner came around to score, but Dan Winkler got the final three outs to complete a five-hitter.
Additional reporting by staff writer
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Red Sox 1, Rays 5
‧ Diamondbacks 8, Blue Jays 2
‧ Phillies 4, Reds 2
‧ Rockies 5, Mets 1
‧ Indians 5, Yankees 2
‧ Cubs 3, Cardinals 1
‧ Twins 6, Tigers 3
‧ Astros 4, Orioles 3, 11 Innings
‧ Athletics 5, Rangers 3
‧ Royals 6, White Sox 4
‧ Brewers 10, Pirates 4
‧ Angels 2, Mariners 6
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but