Braves rock Guardians with 6-run sixth, win 11-5

Ronald Acuña Jr. finally got off the schneid with his first home run of the season, a blast that sparked a six-run sixth, and the Braves beat the visiting Guardians 11-5 in front of a Friday night crowd of 40,363 at Truist Park.

Acuña led off the pivotal sixth with a solo homer, then Matt Olson and Michael Harris II each smacked two-run shots in the frame.

“So excited to hit a home run. Baseball is hard sometimes,” Acuña said. “When you feel good and things don’t happen, that’s part of the game. You just continue to play hard no matter what happens.”

Seven different Braves tallied an RBI in the game and 8 of 9 Braves starters had a hit on a 15-hit night. It’s the second time this season the Braves have scored at least 11 runs (they did that eight times all of 2025) and they’re now averaging 5.5 runs per game.

“It’s fun. We’re out there having fun,” Harris said of the current state of the lineup. “Every guy is trying to do a job. Not everybody’s trying to be the hero, just getting the next man up to do the job,

Braves starter Bryce Elder wasn’t his best, but certainly not his worst. He departed after 4 2/3 innings, having only allowed two earned runs, the first runs he has allowed in 17 2/3 innings this season.

For the 11th time in 14 games, the Braves (9-5) scored first, this time getting an RBI broken-bat bloop single up the middle from Acuña in the third inning.

Kyle Manzardo got that run back for the Guardians with a 454-foot homer to deep right. That marked the first earned run Elder had allowed in 16 1/3 innings this season.

Elder got himself into hot water in the fifth with a pair of walks, then Steven Kwan singled to left, and when Mike Yastrzemski fielded the ball and came up throwing, he lost his grip and dropped the ball, allowing a run to score. After another walk and then a strikeout, Elder was lifted with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth after delivering his 76th pitch of the evening.

Aaron Bummer was summoned from the bullpen and got Manzardo to pop to shortstop after falling behind in the count 2-0.

“I think there, I guess in the fourth or fifth, kind of the line got shifted a little bit and started missing up and away some,” Elder said. “But other than that I think my stuff was good. I was pleased with it. I think I gotta be in the zone a little bit more and kind of got myself in a bad situation. But ‘Bum’ came in, handled it, and then the fellas started hitting so it was good.”

Said Braves’ manager Walt Weiss: “That was the game right there. Really, it sounds crazy the way the final score (ended), but the base were loaded and a dangerous hitter up, that was a big out.”

Elder’s final line included as many walks (3) as strikeouts, and he allowed four hits. Elder had a 3-ball count on six of the 21 batters he faced.

But his teammates more than bailed him out.

It was Acuña providing the offense again in the sixth. His lead-off homer to left, a 411-foot shot to left, tied the game at 2-all.

And the Braves were then off and running.

“The most important thing is I feel good at the plate, Acuña said. ”I take good ABs, so that’s the most important thing. I can control what I can control. When the pitcher throws, I can control hitting the ball, I can control when I hit it."