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The Atlanta Braves are cooking with all kinds of grease right now. Already an MLB-best 18-4 in June — with an offense that’s lapping the rest of the league this month — they welcomed Minnesota Twins ace Joe Ryan to Truist Park on Tuesday night with a whopping five homers through the first 10 batters.
But when you’re hot, you’re hot, and the bats aren’t the only things going the Braves way right now. Case in point: look at this nonsense that second baseman Ozzie Albies and shortstop Orlando Arcia pulled to end the top of the fifth inning:
The Braves making it look routine
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 28, 2023
(via @Braves)pic.twitter.com/26hBO96SHC
Albies went full extension to snare a Max Kepler grounder up the middle, only to realize that he wouldn’t be able to turn his body and make a throw in time to get Kepler at first. So, naturally, he just flipped the ball over his head to Arcia, who happened to be in the perfect position at the perfect time to snag it, spin and fire.
Atlanta is 6.5 games up on the pesky Miami Marlins in the NL East, with a double-digit lead over the other three teams (including a whopping 16 games ahead of the New York Mets). Ronald Acuna Jr., Albies, Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Sean Murphy are possibly the most fearsome top of the order in all of baseball, and they haven’t missed a beat without Max Fried and Kyle Wright. At this rate, they might have the division wrapped up by the end of July.