The train just won’t stop rolling, folks. The Atlanta Braves went into this series with the Cincinnati Reds following an emphatic bounce-back series win against the Boston Red Sox and looking to ensure that this road trip would be a winning one as well. It was especially encouraging to see Ronald Acuña Jr. deliver a big hit for the first time in what felt like ages during that final game in Boston and I’d imagine that we were all hoping that this would keep on going as the team switched venues from
Fenway Park to the Great American Ball Park.
As it turned out, to say that Acuña kept it going would be an understatement. It is legitimately not hyperbolic to say that Acuña looked like an MVP-caliber hitter again over the course of these three games in Cincinnati. Now granted, Acuña (and the Braves as a whole during this current era) have usually had a good time swinging the bat in this ballpark but what happened over the course of this weekend was something akin to watching a supernova go off right in front of your eyes. Let’s get into this series to see exactly how things turned out on what ended up being a typically loud series on the Buckeye side of the Ohio River.
Friday, May 29
Braves 8, Reds 3
Ronald Acuña Jr. picked up exactly where he left off in Boston as he crushed a leadoff dinger to get the Braves on the board first. In fact, Reds outfielder bake Dunn was the only reason why it didn’t get worse for starting pitcher Chris Paddack and the Reds in the first inning as Dunn robbed Michael Harris II of a dinger and then unleashed a laser to get Matt Olson out at second base after Olson tried to leg out a double.
With that being said, that didn’t stop the Braves from continuing their early onslaught once the second inning rolled around. Atlanta loaded the bases with nobody out to get the top of the second started and they eventually ended up cashing in three runs from it in order to take a 4-0 lead. That was all the damage they’d end up doing to Paddack and in fact, this was a tight game after five innings after the Reds launched two solo homers off of Grant Holmes in the fourth inning and then added a third run to Holmes’ line after Didier Fuentes gave up an RBI single to Sal Stewart to make it just a one-run lead for the Braves.
Fortunately, Yunior Marte suffered the same fate as Chris Paddack in that they both gave up four runs. Marte surrendered all four of those runs in one inning, though, as the first four Braves who came to the plate in the sixth all reached safely. Michael Harris II, Jorge Mateo (who has been lowkey heating up lately) and Mike Yastrzemski all delivered the big RBI shots that resulted in the Braves taking a five-run, 8-3 lead. Didier Fuentes sat down the side in order in the sixth inning and Atlanta’s bullpen clamped down from that point forward in order to make sure that 8-3 was how it ended.
Saturday, May 30
Braves 5, Reds 2
The long ball played a major factor in Atlanta’s success in picking up yet another series, as the Braves clubbed four homers in this one. Half of those came off of the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr., who appears to be on the start of a real heater. The Braves actually trailed after two innings thanks to JJ Bleday taking advantage of a hanging curveball from Martín Pérez for a two-run homer but after that, the homers were exclusively reserved for the Braves.
Acuña’s first dinger of the game came in the third inning as it tied the game up at two runs apiece. Two innings later, Jorge Mateo hit his third dinger of the season to put the Braves in front (now mind you, Mateo hit one (1) homer in 43 games last season) and then Acuña followed that up by reaching third base without swinging the bat following a walk and two stolen bases. He didn’t score but it’s also another sign that Acuña may be rounding into MVP form — plus it was pretty cool to see so I had to mention it.
Anyways, Matt Olson sent one out for a solo shot in the seventh inning to give the Braves some breathing room and then Acuña put the icing on the cake with a bomb in ninth inning to make it a three-run deficit. Thanks to Martín Pérez throwing another solid five innings and Atlanta’s high-leverage bullpen quartet of Tyler Kinley, Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias combining for four scoreless innings with just one baserunner allowed between the four of them, the Braves ended up cruising to their 40th victory of the season. Folks, that’s 40 victories before June — PHEW!
Sunday, May 31
Reds 6, Braves 4
The good news to report from this one is that Ronald Acuña Jr. continued to absolutely light it up at the plate. Acuña reached base four times in this one and in fact, the very first pitch he saw from Nick Lodolo during this game ended up landing in the right field seats for his fifth home run in four games. As far as the plate production goes, the Reds will surely not miss seeing Acuña for the rest of this season!
The bad news is that the Braves couldn’t really string together enough offense to deliver a big inning that could’ve potentially turned the tide in this one. The Reds responded with an RBI double from (none other than) JJ Bleday in the first inning to tie it up and then Bleday hit liner out to right for another double that gave the Reds the lead in the third inning. As a matter of fact, the Reds basically just wore out Acuña out there in right field as Will Benson’s double in the fourth inning ended up turning into another run scored for the Reds as Acuña had a devil of a time trying to retrieve the ball. Spencer Steer went first-to-home as a result and the Braves were in a 3-1 hole.
That was the second of five straight innings where the Reds added exactly one run to their tally. Despite another Jorge Mateo home run in the fifth inning and a sacrifice fly from Austin Riley in the sixth inning, the Braves were unable to keep pace with Cincinnati and found themselves dealing with a three-run deficit once the ninth inning rolled around. Atlanta was able to get a rally going in the final frame which saw Acuña drive in another run to make it 6-4 while also getting themselves into a bases-loaded situation with two outs. Having Matt Olson at the plate was about as good as what the Braves could ask for but unfortunately, Olson grounded out to third and the Braves ended up having to settle for a series win instead of a sweep.
So, that’s another series win, another successful road trip and another wildly successful month of baseball for the 2026 Atlanta Braves. They’ve now won or split 15 of 17 series that they’ve played so far and they’re the first team to win 40 games this season. They’ll be the only team with at least 40 wins for at least a few days since the only other team that’s knocking on the door of 40 wins is none other than the Dodgers, who have 37 wins. The Rays and Yankees aren’t too far behind with 36 and 35 wins and then you have the Brewers with 35 wins as well and the Guardians are continuing to practice witchcraft over there with 34 wins of their own.
No matter how you slice it, the Braves are red-hot and they aren’t showing too many signs of stopping. For reference’s sake, the Nationals have gone 20-13 over their past 33 and they’re still firmly in the rear view mirror. The Phillies are starting to recover from their rough start and yet they’re right there wit the Nationals in terms of distance behind the Braves. No current divisional leader has a bigger cushion at the top of their division right now than the Braves do and it’s tough to imagine that changing any time soon.
It also sure helps that Ronald Acuña Jr. is showing some loud signs that he’s getting right again. The Braves have been successful with Acuña kind of treading water (for his standards) and now it’s fun to imagine what this team can do with Acuña firing on all cylinders like he’s capable of. It was clear that the offense needed some sort of a spark after Drake Baldwin went down with an oblique injury and ever since the series finale in Boston and throughout this series in Cincinnati, Acuña has provided that spark for this team and it’s been truly exciting to witness.
Now, the Braves will get a day off on Monday before kicking off the June slate with a six-game homestand against the Blue Jays and Pirates. With the way this team is continuing to play, they can reasonably believe that they’ve got a very good shot of winning any and every series they play in, which is some rarefied air to be in this deep into any given regular season. Plain and simple, this is a very fun baseball team to watch right now and hopefully it’ll continue for a good, long while — especially if Acuña can keep on lighting it up as the Braves return home.
