Ronald Acuna Jr. torments Mets again after Amazins’ send brother to minors

On the day the Mets announced they sent his brother back down to the minors, Ronald Acuña Jr. got his revenge. 

Acuña homered in the third inning of Atlanta’s 3-2 win over the Mets at Citi Field, just hours after the Mets announced his younger brother, Luisangel, had been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse after losing playing time at the major league level, replaced by Travis Jankowski. 

But the elder Acuña brother insisted that wasn’t a motivating factor. 

“It’s a business,’’ Ronald Acuña said through an interpreter. “We all understand. I’m not gonna lie, I would love to see my brother here and be up here with the team. But the most important thing for me, personally, was that we won tonight’s game.” 

The Mets made the move with Luisangel Acuña because there wasn’t much of a role for him with Jeff McNeil playing regularly at second base and Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio splitting time at third — and Francisco Lindor obviously entrenched at shortstop. 

And while seeing his brother demoted — a week after the two faced off when the Mets were in Atlanta a week ago — might not have lit a fire under Ronald Acuña, the harsh treatment from the Citi Field crowd definitely did.