Aug 15, 2018 4 min read

Ronald Acuna Jr.’s streak of leadoff homers in three straight games ended when the Marlins’ Jose Urena hit him with his first pitch on Wednesday night, triggering a melee that led to benches and bullpens for Atlanta and Miami emptying twice.

Urena and Braves manager Brian Snitker were ejected. Snitker had angry words for the pitcher as he led the first exodus from Atlanta’s dugout toward the mound.

Urena’s fastball hit Acuna’s left elbow, leaving Acuna in obvious pain. Trainer George Poulis hovered over Acuna, who sat on the ground near the batter’s box while players swarmed near the mound.

Order appeared to be restored until Acuna walked near the mound on his path to first base, took off a shin guard and tossed it to the edge of the mound. That led to players again spilling out of both dugouts and bullpens. No punches were thrown.

Snitker was ejected by third-base umpire Paul Nauert, the crew chief. After the melee calmed down, the umpires huddled and then home plate umpire Chad Fairchild ejected Urena and warned both benches. That led to a protest from Marlins manager Don Mattingly.

Following a long delay to allow right-hander Elieser Hernandez, who replaced Urena, to throw his warm-up pitches, Acuna remained in the game to run the bases.

But Acuna’s stay was short-lived. He left in the top of the second, walking off the field after taking his position in left field. There was no immediate word on his possible injury.

Urena has a history of control problems. Entering the game, he was tied for second in the National League with 10 hit batters. He tied for the major league lead with 14 hit batters in 2017.

The 20-year-old Acuna entered the game on a rare power streak. He hit two homers in Tuesday night’s 10-6 win over the Marlins. He became the first player to hit leadoff shots in three straight games since Baltimore’s Brady Anderson led off with homers in four straight games in 1996.

Chicago Cubs 8, Milwaukee 4: Anthony Rizzo homered, drove in three runs and stole two bases in his return to the cleanup spot, and the Chicago Cubs restored their three-game lead in the NL Central by topping the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 Wednesday.

Jason Heyward added three hits and two RBIs as Chicago bounced back nicely from its 7-0 loss to Milwaukee in the opener of the two-game series. David Bote had two hits, scored twice and made a terrific barehanded play at third base in his first action since he hit a game-ending grand slam in Sunday night’s 4-3 victory over Washington.

American League

Chicago White Sox 6, Detroit 5: Jose Abreu and Matt Davidson each hit two-run home runs and the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 6-5 to win the three-game series.

Abreu and Davidson combined for six hits and drove in five of Chicago’s runs. The White Sox have won two in a row after losing six of seven.

Seattle 2, Oakland 0: Light-hitting Dee Gordon homered off Yusmeiro Petit in the 12th inning to break a scoreless tie and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 to avoid a three-game sweep.

Jean Segura had four hits to help the Mariners closed within 2 1/2 games of the A’s for the second AL wild-card spot.

Seattle’s Mike Leake pitched eight innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts and one walk. Oakland’s Brett Anderson went 7 2/3 without allowing a run in his longest outing since June 16, 2015.