Braves Briefing: Atlanta increases their lead in the NL East

The Atlanta Braves extended their win streak to eight in a row thanks to a late rally against the San Diego Padres Tuesday night. After scoring three runs each in the final two innings, Atlanta's 8-1 win was extra satisfying when paired with the New York Mets falling the the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 last night.

Where do the Atlanta Braves stack up in MLB?

One game behind the Tampa Bay Rays, the Braves have the second most wins in all of baseball. At 14-4, thanks to eight straight wins, Atlanta has the second-best record in MLB and the best in the National League.

Atlanta is third in runs with 97, behind Tampa Bay (125) and Texas (100).

Atlanta is fourth in hits on the season with 168. They are behind the Phillies (183), Tampa Bay (176), and Toronto (168).

As a team, the Braves have the fourth-best batting average in baseball hitting .269. That's only behind the Phillies (.286), the Rays (.285), and the Cubs (.285).

NL East Standings

Team	Record	GB	Action Today
Atlanta	14-4	-	@ San Diego
NYM	11-7	3.0	@ LAD
Miami	10-8	4.0	Hosts San Fransisco
Philadelphia	7-11	7.0	@ CWS
Washington	5-12	8.5	Hosts Baltimore

We wrote it

Sean Murphy continues to prove that he was a great value add for the Atlanta Braves. Braves Today's Will Moon covered the action last night and highlighted Murphy in the takeaways.

Sean Murphy is who we were told he was, and he's reminding us of that almost nightly now. It's early in the season, yes, but Travis d'Arnaud had gotten off to a hot start of his own before his concussion. Murphy needed to step up in d'Arnaud's absence, and he's more than done that.
This home run set an Atlanta Braves record for consecutive extra-base hits with 11. A single later in the game would snap that streak just a touch shy of the franchise record held by Boston Brave Wally Berger, but that hit got him on base ahead of a key home run from one of his teammates (more on that below). He's also continued to be a plus defender behind the plate and has handled the Atlanta pitching staff extremely well. The early returns on Murph 2.0 are quite good indeed.

Watch the Atlanta Braves highlights

Up next

Wednesday's game is a late afternoon affair for Braves fans, with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 ET. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South, and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.