KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Atlanta Braves put five-time All-Star Ronald Acuña Jr. on the 10-day injured list with right Achilles tendon inflammation Wednesday, though the exact severity of the injury to the slugging outfielder may not be known until additional testing is done.
The Braves recalled outfielder Jarred Kelenic from Triple-A Gwinnett to take his place on the roster.
Acuña first experienced discomfort in his calf area Monday night, when he scored from first on Austin Riley's double to help the Braves to a 10-7 victory over Kansas City. Acuña lobbied to play on Tuesday night and Braves manager Brian Snitker assented, only for Acuña to come up limping while trying to chase down a ball in right field in an eventual 9-6 loss.
“It happened when I scored from first to home on that play,” Acuña explained after the game, speaking through an interpreter. “They are going to examine me (Wednesday) so we’ll see how it goes.”
Even after he came up limping, Acuña wanted to remain in the game. He headed out to his position in the field but saw Eli White trotting out to replace him. That Acuña was able to jog into the dugout at least generated some optimism that the injury to the Achilles tendon was not a complete tear and he could be back this season.
“I was kind of out there hoping they wouldn’t hit it my way and of course any time you do that, they always hit it your way," Acuña said. “I told them (about the pain Monday) and everyone said: ‘Take the day if you want it. You can have the day off.' I’ve missed so much time already through injuries I didn’t want to miss any more time.”
Acuña, the National League MVP in 2023, has dealt with injuries for much of his career. He missed time as a rookie in 2018 with a sprained left knee ligament, then tore the ACL in his right knee to end his 2021 season. Last year, he pivoted awkwardly as he was taking his lead on the bases and wound up tearing the ACL in his left knee, ending his season after 49 games.
Only twice in eight seasons has Acuña managed to play more than 119 games.
After missing the start of this season, Acuña returned May 23 and began playing at an All-Star level again. He was hitting .306 with 14 homers and 26 RBIs in 55 games, including a 2-for-4 night with a homer against the Royals on Monday night.
“It’s an injury, I’m worried,” Acuña said of the latest issue, which comes amid a season in which Atlanta has been devastated by injuries — particularly to its starting rotation. “It’s more pain, but it feels kind of — I feel it a lot when I try to put pressure on it.”
Kelenic, the sixth overall pick of Seattle in the 2018 amateur player draft, has struggled to live up to his potential. He hit .231 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs in 131 games for Atlanta last season but was sent to Gwinnett in April of this season, after he hit .167 with two homers and just two RBIs over the first 23 games with the Braves.
White is expected to be Acuña's primary replacement. He is hitting .255 with four homers and 18 RBIs in 72 games.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson (28), Austin Riley (27) and Ronald Acuna Jr. celebrate after their baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Monday, July 28, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr. celebrates after scoring on a three-run double hit by Austin Riley during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Monday, July 28, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado comes to the White House on Thursday to discuss her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
The White House says Machado sought the face-to-face meeting with Trump without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate following her lunch with Trump, who has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.
Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
