The Braves and Orioles played some breakfast baseball, with the first pitch coming at 11:37 a.m. because this was the Peacock/NBC Sunday game.
They played for 3 hours and 29 minutes as they tried to decide a winner.
The pitching staffs shined. The offenses missed some opportunities. In the field, both teams made great plays.
Michael Harris II ended it with a walk-off double to the wal in left-center field. The Braves won, 3-2, in 12 innings.
“It means a lot,” Harris said of the ensuing celebration following his game-winning hit. “Definitely with this team and the talent that we have, it can be anybody, any day. It was a hard-fought game, long game.”
The Braves (24-11) took two of three from Baltimore.
The finale – which was the Braves’ longest game this season by both time and innings – was thrilling. The Braves made multiple winning plays.
Ronald Acuña Jr. helped set up the victory when he caught a 322-foot fly ball to right field, then hurled a throw to third base to get the runner, who tried to tag up. The play helped Michael Tonkin, who tossed two scoreless innings, keep the Orioles off the board in the 11th.
“Should I tell them that they shouldn’t run?” Orlando Arcia said through interpreter Franco García when asked if he’s surprised teams still run on Acuña.
In the top of the 10th inning, with a runner starting at second because of the extra-innings rule, Anthony Santander hit a rocket off Jesse Chavez that went off the right-field wall and scored the go-ahead run.
But the Braves held Baltimore to a run. The key play: With a runner on second, Arcia fielded a grounder and fired to third to nab the lead runner, which helped stunt any momentum. Of course, scoring from third is easier than scoring from first, which made Arcia’s play crucial.
“That’s a high-reward, risky play,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I love the fact that he has the confidence to make a play.”
Then the Braves showed what can happen if a runner does get to third: Felix Bautista threw a wild pitch that bounced off his catcher, who blocked it, and rolled far enough up the third-base line for Sam Hilliard to score the tying run. But the Braves only scored a run, partially because Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman threw out lead runner Michael Harris II at third base on Arcia’s dribbler, just as Arcia had done in the top half.
Bryce Elder continued his impressive start to the season by holding the Orioles to a run over 5-1/3 innings. He showed impressive poise as the Orioles almost got to him on multiple occasions.
Elder didn’t have any clean innings. In the third inning, he loaded the bases before striking out consecutive Orioles. In the fourth inning, he had runners on second and third with one out before he escaped the jam unscathed.
The one run scored on a groundout in the fourth inning. Overall, Elder allowed four hits and walked four batters, which put him into trouble at times.
“I think I made it work,” Elder said of his outing. “I think (I felt) a little frustrated there at the end. I think I kind of had opportunities to make some pitches to get us through six, and didn’t. So, a little bit frustrating there at the end, but I mean, at the end of the day, command wasn’t great and gave us a chance to win, so I can’t be too upset.”
In the sixth inning, Baltimore put men on first and second with one out, which ended Elder’s afternoon. Collin McHugh entered, and eventually issued a two-out walk that loaded the bases. But just as Elder had before him, McHugh found a way out of trouble without surrendering the go-ahead run.
Through six innings, the Orioles were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They had left nine men on base.
Those numbers stand out when the score (at the time) is 1-1.
In the 12th inning, Harris gave the Braves a lift as they took the series from a surging Orioles club.
“It’s huge because they’re a good team, good lineup. They have a good lineup, good rotation,” Harris said. “We battled it out this whole weekend. We’re just happy to get the series win.”
