The Atlanta Braves opened a pivotal late-season series against the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-2 win Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, but manager Walt Weiss still made a familiar adjustment to Saturday’s lineup, via Underdog MLB.
With left-hander Martin Perez scheduled to start opposite Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, Weiss moved Ronald Acuña Jr. out of the leadoff spot and into the two-hole, flipping him with catcher Drake Baldwin. Acuña remains in right field, the same defensive assignment he held the night before.
The switch is not new. Since Acuña returned from injury last month, Weiss has periodically used Baldwin at the top of the order and dropped the star outfielder one spot. The manager has treated the arrangement as a tactical tool rather than a demotion, and the results have generally been positive enough to keep repeating the experiment.
Baldwin, a right-handed hitter, now faces Wheeler first, while Acuña slots in behind him with the chance to drive in a runner or work a favorable count.
Acuña’s 2026 numbers reflect a player who has been productive when available even if the season has been interrupted. In 88 games and 344 at-bats he is hitting .249 with 14 home runs, 40 RBIs, 50 runs scored and 20 stolen bases. His slugging percentage sits at .422 and his OPS at .720.
Those figures are modest by his own high standards, yet they remain useful for a club that entered Saturday at 84-57 and five games ahead of the Phillies in the National League East.
That division cushion is why the current series matters. Atlanta and Philadelphia will play again Sunday and Monday before meeting once more next weekend.
Every game between the two clubs now carries extra weight as the regular season winds down and playoff positioning comes into sharper focus. Perez, a veteran left-hander, will try to keep the Braves’ momentum going against a Phillies lineup that has seen Wheeler dominate at times this year.
Weiss’s willingness to tinker with Acuña’s spot in the order shows a manager still searching for the most efficient way to deploy his best offensive pieces.
Whether Baldwin’s presence at the top of the card produces extra baserunners or simply changes the look Wheeler sees in the first inning, the Braves are treating the remaining weeks as a stretch that rewards small edges.
Acuña’s bat and speed remain central to that plan; they are simply being used from a slightly different place in the sequence.
The coming days will show whether the latest version of the lineup helps Atlanta protect its lead or whether another adjustment is required before the next meeting with Philadelphia.
