CHICAGO — Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. left Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs after experiencing pain in his lower abdominal muscles.
Acuña led off the fourth with a walk. Kyle Hendricks threw over a couple times while he was on first, and it looked as if Acuña did something to his midsection on a dive back to the bag.
He was checked by a trainer while he was on second, but he stayed in. He got up slowly after diving home to score on Travis d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly, and then was replaced in the field in the bottom half.
Acuña is off to a terrific start this year, batting .433 with seven homers and 16 RBIs heading into the series finale against the Cubs. The outfielder also had scored a major league-high 20 runs coming into the day.
Atlanta has been hit hard by injuries early in the season. Pitchers Max Fried, Drew Smyly and Sean Newcomb and outfielders Cristian Pache and Ender Inciarte have been placed on the 10-day IL since Wednesday.
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