Arcia already making his presence felt on the field. With runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs, he makes a great play to get the first out, limiting the O's to just a run. He then makes another sure handed play to get the third out.

The tie is broken in the 10th on a single thanks to the ghost runner rule. Hope we can get it back.

Regardless, we are without a doubt a better ball club with Arcia in the field. He has made several above average defensive plays today, including throwing out Mateo at 3rd base in the 10th inning for the second out. He has proven his value in his first game back.

His fielding has been really solid today…

Got the run back, but missed a chance to win it. Like Mateo, Harris gets thrown out at 3rd on a grounder. We are able to flip our lineup, so we will Acuna leading off to start the 11th.

Great baseball game we are getting to watch.

DID YOU SEE THAT THROW!!?!

You do not run on Ronald Acuna.

Top of the 11th. One pitch. Double play on a fly ball to right and the ghost runner is thrown out trying advance.

aggiephoenix02 said:

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DID YOU SEE THAT THROW!!?!

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It was a thing of beauty.

The opposite of beauty…

Riley swinging at a ball that bounced several inches in front of the plate for strike three.

We do nothing in the 11th.

On to the 12th.

FREE BASEBALLLL!!

Worth the wait…

Harris walks it off in the 12th! They intentionally walk Ozuna to get the left on left match up, and Harris crushes the first pitch to the gap for the win.

Rockies taking it to the Mets…10-4 in the 5th. It is a great day for baseball.

Great game guys and series. As an Orioles fan, I tip my cap to your club, here's to seeing y'all again, hopefully in the World Series.

Tibbers said:

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Great game guys and series. As an Orioles fan, I tip my cap to your club, here's to seeing y'all again, hopefully in the World Series.

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You guys have a helluva ball club and they look like they are having a blast. I think they are going to be making some noise for a while the AL East. Glad we only have to play 'em once!

Surprising stat: The stolen base by Ozzie in the Orioles series was his first of the year.

Good article on Battery Power on Elder and what makes him successful. Warning advanced stats involved.

https://www.batterypower.com/2023/5/8/23715348/atlanta-braves-player-analysis-bryce-elder-spin-seam-shifted-wake-sinker-slider

We scored early and often. Kept the late inning scoring for the Red Sox to a minimum.

Braves open an 8 game lead in the East, while equaling a franchise record for fewest games to reach 25 wins.

On a less positive note, Fried back to the IL.

They just keep winning. Crazy that there hasn't been a single game this year where there hasn't been at least one key player in the IL. Scary to think how high the ceiling is. Murphy continues to be unbelievable. Of all the great moves AA has made as GM, trading for Murphy and locking him up to a reasonable contact might be the best Td'A is back, but didn't play tonight. It'll be interesting to see how Snit fills out the lineup card now that he's back but Ozuna has been hitting.

Agreed on the Murphy contract, but the Arcia deal has to be in that discussion as well. We basically signed him for pennies and he is by far the best SS, both glove and bat, on the team right now. AA and the coaches seemed to have made a good decision on that one after losing Dansby.

Acuna launches one and Rosario gets a 2 out RBI to knot the score at 2 going to the 7th.

Minter is on the mound and is having issues already, tossing 6 straight balls before getting a strike. He walks the first two batters on 10 pitches. Not good.

The walks cost us, a two out hit breaks the tie in the 7th.

Fortunately, just one run scored, 3-2 game now.

Strider pitched great, comes out after 6 2/3 with a runner on second.

Young comes in and walks two batters on 9 pitches to load the bases and tosses a wild pitch for his 10th pitch to gift the Bluejays another run.

We have squandered multiple opportunities to push a run across.

Frustrating to watch but that is baseball.

Headed to the top of the 9th down 3-0 after Yates gives up a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th.

Looks like Bassit may get a chance to get a complete game. We have given him (3) six pitch innings by swinging early and popping out.

Olson, Riley, and Murphy are up to try a get it done.

Down in order in the 9th. Bassit gets complete game shutout, giving up only 2 hits.

Braves had big opportunity in the 5th after Rosario doubled and Albies got hit by a pitch. For whatever reason, Rosario tried to steal 3rd and got thrown out by a mile. Bassit would also hit TdA with a pitch and then walked Harris to load the bases. Arcia hit a weak foul pop up to end the inning.

Braves had a second opportunity in the 6th when Acuna led off with a single and Olson walked. With two on, no outs, Riley smokes one but right at the third baseman who is able to barely turn two. Murphy hit a sharp liner for the the 3rd out.

Braves would not get another base runner the remainder of the game.

Strider had a phenomenal night with 12Ks. He got robbed if his 13th K on a terrible call by the ump. Pitch was clearly within the zone, but is what it is. Instead of getting a K on that at bat, Strider ended walking the batter and then gave a single for the first run of the game. He left the game with a runner on second and two outs in the 7th, when Young just couldn't find the strike zone at all.

Man…this team is just not clutch at the moment. Had base runners all day and can't get them across, including bases loaded with no outs in the 7th with nothing to show for it.

And just like that after failing to score with the bases loaded and no outs, Minter comes in and can't get anyone out, and the Bluejays score to take the lead.

Minter might need a stint in AAA ball. He has just been awful. Yordan Alvarez broke him.

In a three game skid now. 1-18 with RISP in those three games, including 0-12 in Toronto, magnified by a 0-9 effort today. Not going to win many games like that…hope the bats wake up.

Pretty sure minter has zero options left and can't be sent to minors.

You are probably right. Not sure what is the best thing for him. He needs some confidence back, as he has 15 ER in 11 innings since April 21.

And we lose in the 9th to get swept in walk off fashion.

Normally always try to make it to games when the Braves make it to Texas but won't this time. Tonight the Braves are racking up 2 run HRs.

Good way to break out of a slump!

Final 12-0.

Article on AJ Minter. Good read on how his advanced stats aren't that bad, just having some bad luck.

https://www.batterypower.com/23721871/atlanta-braves-reliever-a-j-minter-will-be-fine-eventually-closer-pitch-clock

I really hope he gets it back together and the luck changes in his favor. Up until that balk followed by Alvarez's homer in the Astro's series opener, he had been pretty effective. Since then, he has just been bad, including that disastrous 9th inning against the Marlins.

I am sure he will eventually get back on track. Same with Iglesias. It magnifies the concerns about starting pitching, with both Fried and Wright being out for an extended period, but there are still some bright spots, Tonkin for example.

Fact of the matter is, we lost the series in Toronto because we could not put the ball in play with RISP. We had some many chances and just could not break through in the first two games. Snit did play with the lineup a little bit by moving Albies up to 3rd and moving Riley the clean up, but I still think we need Olson batting somewhere else other than the 2 spot.

Funny how baseball works...this team has had as good of a start as any Braves team in history, but it also has lost three games in a row 3 times this season, including the most recent 4 game skid, the 4 game skid being the longest losing streak in a few seasons. Last year's club, which got out to a horrible start, did not lose three games in a row until August during that rough 5 game set with the Mets.

AJ Smith Shawver promoted to AAA. Now the youngest player at that level. Only a couple of appearances in AA. Seems to be on the fast track.