Ronald Acuna Jr.

Another mixed day of notable news for the Braves.

Acuna was most of the offense today, as the rest of the lineup was limited to two hits. Venezuela already clinched a quarterfinal spot earlier in the day when the Dominican Republic eliminated Israel. Those two teams, though, still have to play Wednesday, and the winner will have the big advantage of facing Korea in the final eight, while the loser will face Japan.

Abreu was certainly expected to be in the lineup, but that's a little higher placement than we'd have guessed. Today's lineup: RF Ronald Acuna Jr., 1B Luis Arraez, CF Jackson Chourio, LF Abreu, 3B Maikel Garcia, DH Eugenio Suarez, C William Contreras, 2B Gleyber Torres and SS Andres Gimenez. Willson Contreras is on the bench, even though he'd seem to be a clear upgrade over Arraez.

The Regulars were in action on Sunday.

Bradley should have given up two homers, but the wind knocked down a potential leadoff shot from Ronald Acuna Jr. to start the bottom of the first, resulting in a single. As it turned out, only Drake Baldwin's solo shot in the third did any damage. Bradley's bid for a rotation spot got a big boost when Pablo Lopez was diagnosed with a torn ACL. He still definitely has the stuff to be a quality big-league starter. He just needs to turn that into results at some point.