Cleveland Guardians at Atlanta Braves

· Major League Baseball

Cleveland Guardians

18-8, 10-4 Away

Final
2 - 6

Atlanta Braves

18-6, 10-3 Home

Sale, Ozuna lead Braves past Guardians 6-2 in matchup of MLB's two best teams

The reigning NL East champion Braves won for the 10th time in 11 games to improve to 18-6, pushing them a game ahead of the AL-leading Guardians (18-8).

Sale (3-1) surrendered a homer to the very first hitter, Steven Kwan, whose 389-foot shot down the right-field line bounced around in the Chop House restaurant. Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. barely moved as Kwan circled the bases with the third leadoff homer of his career.

That was pretty much it against Sale, who gave up only one more hit while going seven innings for his third straight start. He walked one, struck out six and threw 67 of 95 pitches for strikes.

Ozuna erased Cleveland's tenuous lead in the fourth with a double to left off Logan Allen (3-1) that brought home Austin Riley and Matt Olson. Both runners reached without benefit of a hit — Riley walked and Olson was hit by a pitch.

Ozuna now has a majors-leading 31 RBI on the season, the most ever by a Braves player before the month of May. He had been tied with Dale Murphy (29 in 1985) and Hall of Famer Chipper Jones (29 in 1998).

Michael Harris II followed with a blooper to center that drove in Ozuna. The Big Bear initially paused, thinking the ball might be caught, before lumbering home with a flopping, headfirst slide.

Olson tacked on a run-scoring single in the fifth as the Braves knocked out Allen, who was charged with four runs in 4 2/3 innings. Orlando Arcia homered in the eighth off Pedro Avila.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Guardians: RHP James Karinchak (shoulder) joined the team for the road trip, giving him a chance to work with the big league training staff as he prepares for a rehab assignment. ... RHP Gavin Williams (elbow) will be shut down at least through the middle of next week after getting an injection that the team hopes will alleviate his issues. ... LHP Sam Hentges (middle finger inflammation) is nearing a return after throwing a pair of scoreless innings during his minor league rehab assignment.

Braves: Ozzie Albies came off the 10-day injured list right on schedule after sustaining a fractured toe when hit by a pitch on April 15. He wasted no time making an impact with two hits, an RBI and a run scored.

RHP Charlie Morton (2-0, 4.70) gets the nod for Atlanta in the second game of the series Saturday night. He'll be opposed by Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (2-0, 4.44).

How can I watch Cleveland Guardians vs. Atlanta Braves?

TV Channel: Guardians at Braves 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Braves: 62.3%

Guardians: 37.7%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Arias grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Laureano struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Fry singled to center, Freeman scored, Ramírez to second.
	9th Inning	Minter relieved Matzek
	9th Inning	J. Naylor struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Ramírez singled to left, Freeman to third.

Statistics

CLE		ATL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	2
12	Ground Balls	9
9	Strikeouts	9
2	Runs Batted In	6
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
5	Hits	8
2	Stolen Bases	0
1	Walks	4
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	6
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
33	At Bats	31
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
12	Runners Left On Base	14
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	3
12	Fly Balls	13
0	Caught Stealing	0
139	Pitches	160
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
9	Total Bases	14
34	Plate Appearances	37
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
2	Extra Base Hits	4
1.5	Runs Created	5.3
.152	Batting Average	.258
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.273	Slugging Percentage	.452
.212	Secondary Average	.323
.176	On Base Percentage	.378
.449	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.830
1.0	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.7
1.5	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	6.0
20.0	Batter Rating	41.0
33.0	At Bats Per Home Run	31.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.09	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.32
.121	Isolated Power	.194
0.11	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.44
.029	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.108
.061	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.065
4.0	Runs Produced	12.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.6
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
68.5	MLB Rating	86.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0