Braves Walk Off Guardians in Ten Innings to Secure Series Win

The Atlanta Braves rallied late to take down the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon for the series win

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves walked off the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 in ten innings on Sunday afternoon to secure the series win.    

Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.

Bryce Elder did enough for a win 

After excelling against Miami last week, the Braves asked Elder to stay up on the major league roster and make a second start. This one wasn’t as impressive as against Miami, but the Guardians are a significantly better team. Despite that, Elder pitched well enough to win. The sinkerballer allowed only two runs on four hits and four walks in 5.1 innings, striking out two. Elder just couldn’t get the Guardians hitters to chase out of the zone on his slider, but wisely decided he’d rather walk someone rather than leave a pitch over the heart of the zone. He threw 85 pitches, but only 48 for strikes and got only five whiffs on 33 swings.

Was it overpoweringly dominant? No, but that’s not Bryce Elder’s game. It was good enough to keep Atlanta in the game and give them a chance to win, and that’s all you can really ask for from what was ostensibly the 6th starter to open this season.    

Atlanta’s offense was a bit cold...until it wasn’t

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Braves didn’t get too much going against an opposing starter. Ben Lively went four and a third innings, allowing only one run on four hits, striking out two and walking five. 

But in typical Braves fashion, Atlanta picked a reliever to victimize - this time Hunter Gaddis. They scored twice in the 8th inning, putting up three hits on the righty to tie the game at two. Atlanta then walked off it in the 10th inning, with Austin Riley singling home Ronald Acuña Jr for yet another late-innings Braves come-from-behind victory. 

Where are all the homers?

The Braves led all of baseball in homer production, tying the single-season record with 307 longballs. 

This season has been a marked difference, with today’s game being the eighth time in 2024 that Atlanta was held without a homer. The total from 2023? Just eighteen times. 

And it’s not for lack of trying - Braves hitters launched ten hard-hit balls, including a 106.6 mph, 373-ft flyout by Matt Olson and a 379-foot flyout by Austin Riley, both to left field. Only four of Atlanta’s ten hard-hit balls actually dropped in for base hits, despite several that had expected batting averages over .500 and several that would have been homers had the wind not knocked them down.

(There’s also speculation that MLB has changed the balls yet again, deadening this year’s baseballs - there’s been nothing to prove that this has happened, but I wouldn’t put it past the league office and they’ve lost all benefit of the doubt on this one.) 

What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?

The Braves are hopping on a plane to head to Seattle; they start a three-game series against the Mariners tomorrow night. Atlanta’s announced their rotation as Max Fried (Monday), Reynaldo López (Tuesday), and Chris Sale (Wednesday).