NEW YORK – Five things about the surging Braves after their 11-inning, 5-3 win over the Yankees in Monday night’s series opener at Yankee Stadium.
1. The Braves have the National League's best overall record (49-34) and the league's best road record (26-17). The second-best mark in the NL belongs to the Brewers (49-35), who host the Braves in another much-anticipated series starting Thursday at Milwaukee, that one a long four-game set. The current 15 games over .500 is the most for the Braves since they finished 96-66 in 2013 and won the NL East.
2. With his two-run homer in the 11th inning Monday, Ronald Acuna became the youngest Brave to hit a game-winning, extra-inning homer since Andruw Jones hit one in the 10th inning against the Padres on April 26, 1997. Acuna was 20 years and 196 days old, 193 days older than Jones. The homer was Acuna's first extra-inning homer and the Braves' third this season, after Ozzie Albies (June 25 vs. Cincinnati) and Kurt Suzuki (April 11 at Washington). All three came in the 11th inning.
3. The Braves are 4-0 to start a 10-game trip, their four-game winning streak standing as the longest in the majors currently. In case you were wondering, the Nationals (42-41) have lost three in a row and fallen seven games behind the NL East-leading Braves and 3-1/2 games behind the second-place Phillies (45-37). The Braves and Phillies are each 13-7 in their past 20 games, while the Nationals are 5-15.
4. The Braves' 24-18 record against teams currently at or above .500 is the best mark in the NL and fourth-best in the majors behind the Yankees (32-16), Red Sox (30-19) and Mariners (27-20). The defending World Series champion Astros are 29-22 in such games, fifth-best in the majors.
5. The Braves still are only 3-7 in extra-inning games, tied with the Angels (1-7) for most extra-inning losses and tied with Toronto (8-2) and Baltimore (4-6) for second-most extra-inning games behind St. Louis (5-6). Seattle has the majors' best record (8-0) in extra-inning games.
Ok, we lied, make it six things about the Braves: They improved to 29-9 when their starter pitches at least six innings. Anibal Sanchez worked six Monday.
