The Braves Beat The Diamondbacks In The Most 2026 Game Of The Year
The Braves scored eight runs in the fifth inning due to an overturned strike three and an overturned double play, and then faced a position player in the ninth inning.
Atlanta's Ozzie Albies turned a strikeout into a walk by challenging the pitch, kicking off an eight-run rally against the Diamondbacks. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) Getty Images Last Thursday, the Atlanta Braves beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 17-2. It was, by all accounts, a butt whooping.
But upon closer inspection, was it? As Ben Lindbergh pointed out in Episode 2462 of the Effective Wild podcast, just one at-bat changed everything about this game. And this inning (the fifth) and this game could be a microcosm of the “new baseball,” something that would be unrecognizable to fans just a generation ago (let alone 50 or 75 years in the past).
Here is how that fifth inning unfolded, which started with the Braves leading 2-1: Second baseman Ozzie Albies led off and was called out on strikes on a 3-2 pitch. However, he tapped his helmet, compelling an ABS challenge, and was proven correct. As such, rather than one out and none on, there were no outs and one on.
Ozzie Albies clearly took ball four. Baseaball Savant Michael Harris II followed with a line out to center. Dominic Smith walked, which moved Albies to second.