VIDEO: Brian Snitker Gets Tossed After Ronald Acuña Jr. is Hit by Elieser Hernandez's 1st Pitch
By Karl Rasmussen
The Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins didn't get off to a very friendly start on Tuesday night. The first pitch of the ball game saw Ronald Acuña Jr. get plunked by Marlins' starter Elieser Hernandez. The star outfielder wasn't appreciative of the bean ball, and had some words with the home plate umpire. After warnings were issued to each bench, a livid Brian Snitker was ejected from the game.
Brian Snitker is ejected from the game after arguing on behalf of Ronald Acuña Jr. getting hit in the first inning. #Braves | #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/zzbupCntWK
— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) August 20, 2019
Snitker had every right to be enraged, as there was really no reason for the Braves to have been issued a warning. Atlanta did nothing wrong in this case, simply sending Acuña out to lead off the game.
While Hernandez may not have intended to hit Acuña, considering his pitch clocked in at 87 mph, the history between these two clubs, and specifically Acuña himself, makes the game-opening HBP very suspect.
The Marlins hit Ronald Acuña Jr.
— Sporting News MLB (@sn_mlb) August 20, 2019
This is a scheduled tweet.pic.twitter.com/J3zDWDAiLo
It only took one pitch for things to pop off between the NL East leaders and bottom-dwellers, and now there's nine innings of intense baseball ahead of us.