HOUSTON --  When Mauricio Dubón was asked what it was like to see  go on a tear over the past few weeks, he knew Acuña was within earshot. 

“I’ve been telling him, ‘Let me see some Ronald Acuña [stuff],’” Dubón said. “I haven’t seen it all year. He’s been hurting or lacking. But now I get to see [some of that stuff].”

Acuña Jr. laughed as he passed Dubón and the group of reporters who were receiving this message on Friday night. Life has been good recently for the 2023 National League MVP and it got even better when he hit a seventh-inning grand slam that provided the Braves a key 6-3 win over the Astros on Saturday night at Daikin Park.  

Acuña’s surge over the past month has powered the Braves through a pennant race that is nearing its end. The Braves now sit six games ahead of the Phillies in the National League East with just seven games remaining. Any Atlanta win or Philadelphia loss the rest of the way would give Atlanta its seventh NL East crown within the past nine seasons.

Acuña was a rookie when that first division crown was captured in his 2018 rookie season, and he’s now the seasoned veteran counted on to deliver like he did with the latest of his five career grand slams.  

Astros right-hander Bryan Abreu entered with bases loaded and one out in the seventh. After striking out Drake Baldwin, Abreu threw a 1-0 fastball that Acuña drilled over the left-center-field wall.  

Acuña has homered six times within his past 17 games and he entered Saturday hitting 363 with a 1.072 OPS over his past 20 games. He did a lot of damage against the Phillies, hitting .464 with three homers and a 1.377 OPS in seven games against them this month.