After playing right field the last three days while dealing with a bone bruise in his left thumb, Ronald Acuña Jr. will serve as the Braves’ designated hitter for Sunday’s home series finale against the Washington Nationals.
Mauricio Dubon is back in the two-hole against left-handed starter Foster Griffin (5-2, 4.02 ERA) and Ha-Seong Kim is back at shortstop after an off day Saturday. Eli White replaces Acuña in right field and will hit seventh, while Sandy León is back at catcher and hitting ninth.
All of the Braves’ experience against Griffin comes from his start against them last month in Washington. The active Braves are 4-for-18 (.222) against him. Dubon was 2-for-3 with a double, Michael Harris II had a double and White homered off Griffin, who has two strikeouts and one walk against current Braves.
The Nationals will replace a pair of lefty hitters (Jose Tena at first and Jorbit Vivas at third) with righties (Andres Chaparro at first and Curtis Mead at third) against left-handed Braves starter Martín Pérez. Mead is hitting second and Chaparro is hitting third, sandwiched between James Wood and CJ Abrams in the top four spots of the lineup.
The Nationals’ current roster is a combined 4-for-16 (.250) against Pérez. Abrams (2-for-5) has half of those hits, including a solo homer. Wood (1-for-2) homered off Pérez in his relief appearance last month at Washington. The Nationals have struck out five times and worked no walks against Pérez.
