ATLANTA — Ronald Acuña Jr. was back, along with his flair for the dramatic.
Acuña crushed the first pitch he saw 467 feet for a home run in his highly anticipated return to the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Manny Machado hit a tiebreaking homer off Raisel Iglesias in the ninth inning, though, and the San Diego Padres overcame Acuña’s big moment in his season debut to beat the Braves 2-1 on Friday night at Truist Park and end their six-game losing streak.
Machado led off the ninth by lining a home run off Iglesias (3-4) to left field. It was Machado’s fourth homer of the season.
Acuña, the 2023 National League MVP who was making his first appearance in an MLB game in almost a year since tearing the ACL in his left, was activated from the injured list and restored to the Atlanta lineup.