The Atlanta Braves had an eventful weekend as they took the series from the Orioles with a thrilling 12-inning rubber match on Sunday.

Prior to Sunday’s game, Orlando Arcia was activated from the IL and Vaughn Grissom was optioned to Gwinnett. The Braves opted to bring Arcia straight back to the big leagues, in lieu of a rehab stint in the minors. The Braves appeared to be in quite a hurry to get Grissom back to Triple-A.

Travis d’Arnaud was activated from the IL today and Chadwick Tromp was optioned to Triple-A. TDA was hitting .333 through his first eight games before suffering a concussion. d’Arnaud’s return strengthens an already deep lineup and gives the Braves arguably the league’s best 1-2 punch at catcher.

Speaking of catchers, Sean Murphy was named the NL Player of the Week. Murphy earned the honors by slashing .360/.515/.760 this past week Murphy is the league leader in fWAR on the season. He is the first Braves catcher to win the award since Brian McCann in July of 2013.

Braves Score Yesterday (05/07/23): Braves 3, Orioles 2.

The Braves took the deciding third game of the series against the Orioles. They are now 24-11 and have the best record in the National League.

Ronald Acuna Jr. went 0-5 with no strikeouts, dropping his average to a measly .338 on the season.

Matt Olson crushed his 10th homer of the season in the first inning off of Tyler Wells.

Marcell Ozuna finished 0-3 but still managed two walks. His solid month of May continues as he boasts a .304 AVG, .429 OBP, and a .826 SLG.

Michael Harris II walked it off in the 12th inning with his first hit of the game.

Young Elder Continues Dominance

Bryce Elder continued his incredible run, pitching 5.1 innings and allowing just one run. Elder has been a gift from above. It wasn’t that long ago that we were trying to figure out who the Braves would use as their fifth starter to begin the season and Elder has absolutely locked it down. Since August 14 of last season, Elder has the best ERA (1.70) of all starting pitchers with at least 70 innings pitched.