Atlanta Braves Receive Hopeful Ronald Acuña Jr. Injury Update After Exit

Ronald Acuña Jr. exited after being hit twice, but the Atlanta Braves delivered a hopeful injury update on their superstar Tuesday. Acuña Jr. left Monday night’s game against the Washington Nationals after being struck by a pitch for the second time in the same game, but the Braves came away with a collective exhale when X-ray results on the five-time All-Star came back clean.

The X-ray images on Acuña’s left hand proved negative, Braves manager Walt Weiss confirmed after Atlanta’s 9-4 victory at Nationals Park. The 2023 unanimous NL MVP is listed as day to day.

“Ronnie is OK,” Weiss said. “X-rays were negative. He’s going to be fine.”

GettyWASHINGTON, D.C. РApril 20, 2026: Ronald Acu̱a Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

Ronald Acuña Jr. Hand Injury: What Happened Against Nationals

Nationals starter Jake Irvin hit Acuña with a 92 mph fastball in the fourth inning, then caught him again with a 91 mph fastball in the sixth, this time on the left hand. Acuña yelled in pain after the second plunking, as reported by ESPN.

He was in the on-deck circle when the sixth inning ended but did not return to the field. Eli White replaced him in right field for the bottom half of the inning. Two innings later, the Braves announced the negative X-ray results.

“It was swelling up pretty good, so we just got him out of there,” Weiss said, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.

Weiss added there were no plans for an MRI exam, a detail that seems especially important in Atlanta. Austin Riley’s hand X-rays came back negative in August 2024 as well. An MRI the following day told a different story, revealing a season-ending fracture. The Braves lived through that sequence once. The fact that Weiss ruled out a follow-up scan is the most reassuring thing he said all night.

“You don’t want to get hit in the hand or the elbow,” first baseman Matt Olson said. “You take something in the back or the leg, it’s easy to shake off. But there are a lot of little bones in the hand.”

“You worry about getting hit in the hand, especially with the bat there,” starter Bryce Elder added. “It doesn’t take much to fracture something there. So, hearing it was negative was good.”

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Atlanta Braves Win Sixth Straight Despite Ronald Acuña Jr. Scare

The injury scare did nothing to slow down the NL East-leading Braves, who improved to 16-7 on the season and tied the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball. Atlanta has now won six straight games.

Olson carried the offense, launching a game-tying homer off Irvin in the fourth and finishing with three RBIs. He now has six home runs on the season and stands alongside Giancarlo Stanton as the only players to hit 13 or more home runs within their first 30 games at Nationals Park, per Bowman’s report.

Reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin added a two-run double in Atlanta’s decisive five-run sixth inning, and Michael Harris II went 11-for-26 with three homers over his last eight games entering Monday.

Acuña himself had been finding his form heading into the incident. He posted a .290 batting average and .840 OPS over the two weeks prior to Monday’s game, after a slow start dropped his season OPS to .719 through 23 games.

Umpires warned both dugouts after Elder hit Daylen Lile to start the sixth inning. Nothing further escalated. Weiss drew the line at two hit batsmen in one game regardless of intent.

“One time, it happens,” Weiss said. “But a couple of times, that’s a tough one.”

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