Braves 6-4, then the elbow news: Acuña wakes up, Waldrep and Schwellenbach are done

The Braves beat the Rockies 6-4 on Friday at Truist Park, ran the winning streak to five, and sat at 80-55 with a five-game lead on the Phillies (75-60). Ronald Acuña Jr. had his first three-hit game of the year. Michael Harris II hit his 22nd homer. Raisel Iglesias closed it for save No. 29.

Same afternoon, the club announced Hurston Waldrep will have Tommy John surgery and Spencer Schwellenbach will have season-ending elbow surgery. The rotation that just swept the Dodgers is not getting those two back.

Acuña's off day, then the swing

Walt Weiss sat Acuña on Thursday against Los Angeles. Friday he looked like himself. A 108.3 mph double in the fifth, just ahead of Harris' two-run shot. A 110.8 mph single in the sixth. The double came off Tomoyuki Sugano's 92.8 mph four-seamer — Acuña entered hitting .119 with three extra-base hits against four-seamers all year.

"I didn't make any big changes with my approach," Acuña said. "I'm just trying to stay consistent." Weiss: good energy, and the swing finally looked like him.

Harris doubled in a three-run second and went deep in the fifth. Before the Little League Classic homer on Sunday he had been in a 20-game homerless streak. He has never hit more than 20 in a season. Two in five games puts 30 in the conversation if September cooperates.

Sean Murphy's two-out RBI double started the second. He is 5-for-8 with two doubles and a homer since Weiss said he would catch more innings to keep Drake Baldwin's bat in the lineup as DH. Baldwin had two singles Friday and multi-hit games in three of his last four.

Holmes survived, Iglesias finished it

Grant Holmes (9-5) got the win: 5.0 innings, eight hits, three earned, three strikeouts, one walk. Colorado scored three in the fifth to make it 4-3, then Harris' homer made it 6-3. Willi Castro's sac fly in the seventh was the last Rockies run. Ozzie Albies ended it with a diving catch on Castro in the ninth.

Sugano (12-8) took the loss: 4.0 innings, 10 hits, six earned. Mauricio Dubón singled home Acuña in the third. The hangover test after Chris Sale's 1-0 shutout Thursday was not pretty. It was a win.

Two more elbows, and Strider is running out of calendar

Waldrep: torn UCL, Tommy John. He had loose bodies removed in February, returned June 26, pitched 29 innings between the minors and majors, and has not thrown since leaving a July 19 Gwinnett start.

Schwellenbach: surgery to repair the same right elbow fracture from June 28, 2025. He missed last year's final three months, had bone spurs removed in February, and the throwing progression kept stalling.

"The guys were going through their throwing progressions," Weiss said. "At some point, if things aren't right, they're going to flare up again. That's simply what happened with both guys."

Spencer Strider, Waldrep, and Schwellenbach all recently worked at the spring complex in Florida. Asked about Strider — out since June 12 with right elbow inflammation — Weiss said time is running out. Robert Suárez is the arm that can still matter in October: 0.56 ERA in 31 appearances before the IL on June 19, pain-free on flat ground at 120 feet, mound work early next week.

Sale, Holmes, and whoever is healthy behind them are the pennant rotation. The depth chart just stopped pretending otherwise.

Bird Gang bottom line

Friday was the offensive night Atlanta has been waiting on — Acuña's exit velo, Harris' 22nd, Murphy looking like a bat again — wrapped around the news everyone in the clubhouse already feared. The NL East lead is five. The Dodgers are swept. The next month is Sale, Holmes, and a bullpen that cannot keep asking for complete games. Win the Rockies series and the calendar stays friendly. The elbows are already decided.

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