Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. had such a memorable day on Thursday that his historic grand slam in an 8-7 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers was only the second-best thing that happened to him.
Acuña and his longtime girlfriend, Maria Laborde, got married earlier in the day.
Per ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, the couple got engaged in January and were going to tie the knot in the offseason but changed plans because terms of Laborde's visa required her to leave the United States by the end of this week and return to Venezuela for three months.
"We're a family," Acuña told Gonzalez in Spanish. "Since we've known each other, we've wanted to be together. We have two kids. Family is meant to be together. That comes before anything else. I'm really happy that's going to happen now."
Gonzalez noted the ceremony came together in about 24 hours when Acuña called his business manager on Wednesday and asked him to "schedule the fastest wedding imaginable" to allow Laborde to stay in the country.
"Acuña arrived at the team hotel at about 2 a.m. Thursday morning," Gonzalez wrote, awoke five hours later and was driven 35 miles north to tie the knot, expediting a wedding that was initially supposed to take place in their native Venezuela over the winter."
A few hours after saying his nuptials, Acuña became the first player in MLB history to have 30 homers and 60 stolen bases in a season with his second-inning grand slam off Lance Lynn.
This has already been an incredible year for Acuña, personally and professionally. He's one of the favorites to win NL MVP, along with Dodgers teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and has one more month to add to his historic home run and stolen base totals.
The Braves have been the best team in baseball all season. They have a five game lead over the Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles for the best record in MLB. Their .662 winning percentage is on pace to be the highest for the franchise in a 162-game season.
Acuña won a World Series with the Braves in 2021, but he was unable to play for the final two months of the season and playoffs due to a torn ACL.
