NEW YORK — Hours before the Atlanta Braves took the field at Yankee Stadium Russell Bodine Jersey , as an air conditioning vent blew cold air inside a sweltering third base dugout, manager Brian Snitker admitted he did not think the youth would come together so quickly this season.

Snitker thought the Braves would do well but not necessarily possess the best record in the National League.

About 6 1/2 hours later, the Braves wrapped up another win due to some youthful contributions and on Tuesday they can become the first team in the National League to reach 50 victories when they continue a three-game series with the New York Yankees.

The Braves are on a four-game winning streak and 31-19 against opponents with winning records after Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning off David Robertson to give Atlanta a 5-3 victory.

“We’re ahead of where we thought we’d be,” Snitker said before the Braves upped the NL’s best record to 49-34. “Going into the season, I don’t think we expected to be sitting here on July 2 in first place.

“We all felt we were going to do really good. In all honesty with where we were with our club and are, we’ve kind of surpassed what everybody thought the first of March where we’d be. We’re a probably a better team than what we thought we were.”

Among the youthful players is Acuna, who at 20 years, 196 days is the youngest Atlanta rookie to hit a game-winning homer in extra innings since Andruw Jones (20 years, three days) did it April 26, 1997, against the San Diego Padres.

Acuna is batting .274 with seven homers and 18 RBIs in 33 games. He also owns six RBIs in extra innings, second most behind 21-year-old Ozzie Albies. The Braves also are 9-3 when he drives in a run.

“I’m never really nervous in those situations, my adrenaline kind of helps out Chaz Green Jersey ,” Acuna said through an interpreter before adding he could never remember feeling nervous on the field.”

The Yankees (54-28) are 4-6 in their last 10 games after going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and striking out 12 times.

“We want to put them out there more often than not,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “More often than not we’ll come through in those situations.”

Aaron Judge hit his 23rd homer and walked twice but also couldn’t complete the leaping catch on Acuna’s homer.

“I felt it hit my glove,” Judge said. “It didn’t go in. They got two runs. It was a tough play.”

Judge and the Yankees have only lost a series three times since April 19 and are 45-19 in their last 64 games. They will attempt to do so after extensive use of their bullpen trying to win Monday’s game.

Aroldis Chapman, David Robertson, Dellin Betances, Chad Green and Jonathan Holder combined for seven innings and threw 114 pitches.

“Obviously we went through a lot of guys tonight, threw a lot of pitches,” Boone said. “It’ll be a little bit of a challenge tomorrow, but we’ll work through it.”

Tuesday’s pitching matchup will feature young pitchers experiencing differing degrees of success of late as Sean Newcomb starts for Atlanta against Domingo German.

After going 4-9 in 18 starts last season, he is 8-2 with a 2.71 ERA in 16 starts in his second campaign.

Newcomb is coming off two straight no-decisions in home starts against the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds. He has allowed three runs or less in all but two starts and allowed one run or less in eight outings, including six scoreless starts.

“He’s a lot more competitive than I was ever led to believe,” said Snitker while noting how Newcomb’s changeup has developed into an effective pitch. “I didn’t know him a lot. I hadn’t seen him a lot in the minor leagues and once he came here, he’s a quiet guy Nevin Lawson Jersey , he doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the mound but he’s very competitive.”

German will make his 10th start and it might be viewed as an audition to stay in the rotation until Masahiro Tanaka returns from a hamstring injury. German will pitch one day before Tanaka makes a rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

German is 2-3 with a 5.88 ERA in nine starts and has shown some flashes but also struggled. He followed up a three-start stretch where he fanned 28 in 19 innings against the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, and Seattle Mariners by struggling immensely in a 7-6 loss at Tampa Bay on June 24.

In his last start, German tied a career worst by allowing six runs on a career-worst nine hits in three-plus innings. He threw 64 pitches to 19 hitters and was pushed back, though he pitched a scoreless relief inning Wednesday at Philadelphia.

German’s only previous start against a National League team occurred June 9, when he allowed three runs on five hits in six innings in a 4-3 win at the Mets.

The Minnesota Vikings have agreed to terms on a five-year contract extension with Danielle Hunter, making him one of the top 10 highest-paid defensive ends in the NFL while securing another core player before he could reach free agency.

The deal, which was done on Wednesday, is worth up to $72 million, according to a person with knowledge of the contract who spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms weren’t disclosed by the team.

The deal includes $40 million in guaranteed money, with a $15 million signing bonus. The annual average worth is more than $14 million, on par with fellow Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen.

”I had to get this out of the way,” Hunter said Cam Newton Jersey , acknowledging relief to have signed before training camp. ”I didn’t want to be bothered by anything.”

Hunter has 25 sacks, three forced fumbles and two recovered fumbles in three seasons, after being drafted in the third round in 2015 out of LSU. Still only 23 years old, Hunter was a top priority to retain at a premium position. Griffen is 30, and primary backup Brian Robison is 35.

”Just looking forward to getting him locked in and what he’s going to continue to bring not only to this defense and this football team, but also the type of character that he brings,” general manager Rick Spielman said.

Over those past three seasons, Hunter and Griffen have combined for 57 sacks, the second most by a pair of teammates in the league behind Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap of the Cincinnati Bengals (58).

The pass rush and run defense provided by these bookends has been a significant part of coach Mike Zimmer’s unit that gave up the fewest points and yards in the NFL last season.

”We build a bond together on defense,” Hunter said. ”We go out there, we know we’re brothers. We fight together. We do our assignments. On and off the field we’re really, really close.

Hunter was third in the NFL with 12 sacks in 2016, the most by a defensive end. Born in Jamaica and raised just outside of Houston Aqib Talib Jersey , the 6-foot-5, 252-pound Hunter was a classic late bloomer the Vikings targeted with confidence he’d continue to develop with the right coaching to complement his measurable physical skills. Spielman and his scouts have been proven right with that pick.

”I kind of came in with the mindset of just playing football. I had a whole bunch of people in front of me, older guys that were able to show me the way, good coaches and a good coaching staff,” Hunter said. ”The only thing I could do is just come in here and focus and play football.”

The Vikings extended middle linebacker Eric Kendricks earlier this offseason. Outside linebacker Anthony Barr and wide receiver Stefon Diggs are their other two standouts on expiring contracts, with space under the salary cap dwindling. Signing both of them to new long-term deals might not be possible.

They’re plenty happy to at least have Hunter around well into the next decade, though. According to statistics compiled by Vikings coaches, Hunter also has 125 quarterback hurries and 147 total tackles. He has never missed an NFL game to injury, with his only two absences coming in 2015 when he was on the inactive list in the first month of his rookie year.

”It’s all about keep continuing to improve my game. I’ve got to go out there and do what the coaches tell me to do. Now that I have this I can’t relax,” Hunter said. ”I have to keep pounding and grinding.”

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