NEW YORK — Hours before the Atlanta Braves took the field at Yankee Stadium Jonah Williams 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 http://www.bengalscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-drew-sample-jersey , 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,” 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 Germaine Pratt Jersey ,” 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, 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 http://www.bengalscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-ryan-finley-jersey , 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.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)Malik Jackson thanked the San Francisco 49ers for giving Jacksonville’s defense an ”awakening.” A rude awakening, really. The Jaguars (10-5) allowed 369 yards, including 131 on the ground, 44 points and 10 third-down conversions in a humbling loss on the West Coast. All of it, Jackson said, will provide motivation for the defense moving forward. ”If you don’t learn anything from your failures, then they’re truly that: Just failures,” the Pro Bowl defensive tackle said Wednesday. ”We’re going to fix it. That’s what good teams do. … I know we’re going to be a better team for it.” Jacksonville’s lackluster performance against the 49ers created some concerns about what had been the league’s top-ranked defense. Jimmy Garoppolo used a variety of misdirection and bootlegs to pick apart Jacksonville’s secondary with quick throws Renell Wren Jersey , and the Jaguars were gouged on the ground for the fourth consecutive week. San Francisco’s success prompted a heated exchange between Jackson and cornerback Aaron Colvin on the sideline in the first half and caused several more meltdowns late , including a costly, 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Jackson in the closing minutes. ”It was disappointing because I understood the damage I did to the team,” Jackson said. ”I try to go out there and play with high intensity, play with a high motor and play with dog relentlessness, and I let the best get to me and I let my emotions get the most of me and pretty much lose the game for my team. ”I’m glad it happened now. I’m glad I can check myself now and see what I need to do better and just get better with my attitude and my leadership.” The Jaguars have a chance to rebound from the loss in the regular-season finale at Tennessee (8-7) on Sunday. It’s an opportunity to potentially knock the Titans out of playoff contention and rebuild some momentum heading into the franchise’s first home playoff game since the 1999 season. Defense has been the backbone of the team’s resurgence. Jacksonville has held eight of 15 opponents to 10 or fewer points, which is one reason players insist last week’s game was more of an anomaly than cause for concern. ”We always want to play great,” Pro Bowl cornerback A.J. Bouye said. ”Sixteen games in the NFL, everything’s not going to be perfect. We’re not always perfect as a team or even on defense. One thing about it is we always bounce back and we learn from our mistakes. ”We’d rather it happen now that in January when the playoffs come.” Jacksonville is locked into the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs and will host Baltimore, Buffalo http://www.bengalscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-michael-jordan-jersey , the Los Angeles Chargers or Tennessee on Jan. 6 or 7. The Jags don’t want to head into that sold-out home game with consecutive losses. They haven’t dropped back-to-back games all season, showing resiliency after every loss. Coach Doug Marrone has no plans to rest starters against the Titans, saying the team is ”100 percent all in on winning this football game.” Defensive players welcomed the mantra, especially after their latest performance. ”We’re the best defense in the National Football League, and everybody knows it,” safety Tashaun Gipson said. ”It’s not about going out there and getting back on track. It’s really just about going out there and being us again. I’m very confident that we’re going to do it.” When told his team actually dropped to second in scoring and third in yards, Gipson responded: ”How did we drop to third?” Well, the debacle in San Francisco did it. ”We’ll go back (to No. 1) this week,” he said. ”Slight work. No worries.” —