The Braves Just Dropped Six Runs in One Inning and the Guardians Never Saw It Coming
The Atlanta Braves turned the sixth inning into an absolute slugfest on Friday night, sending 10 batters to the plate and crushing seven hits to score six runs en route to an 11-5 demolition of the visiting Cleveland Guardians at Truist Park. This wasn't just a good inning, this was the kind of offensive explosion that flips an entire game on its head.
The Sixth Inning Meltdown
Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, and Michael Harris II each went deep during that decisive frame. Acuna's first home run of the season came off a hanging curve that knotted things at 2-2. Drake Baldwin singled to center before Olson launched a 3-0 fastball to right field for a two-run shot, putting the Braves up 4-2. Austin Riley singled and scored on Dominic Smith's RBI single to extend the lead to 5-2. Harris then crushed a two-run shot that scored Smith and pushed Atlanta out to a 7-2 advantage. The Guardians' pitching staff simply couldn't find the strike zone or the answer they needed.
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Dominic Smith went 3-for-4 and finished with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs. His .357 batting average speaks for itself. In fact, all nine Braves either scored or drove in at least one run, which tells you everything you need to know about how balanced this offensive performance was. Ozzie Albies and Smith tacked on two-out RBI singles in the seventh to make it 9-2.
Cleveland Fought Back, But It Wasn't Enough
The Guardians loaded the bases in the eighth and cut into the deficit with an RBI single from Rhys Hoskins and a bloop single from Angel Martinez, who also drove in Hoskins and Juan Brito to get within 9-5. But Atlanta answered right back with an RBI double from Baldwin in the ninth and scored on an error two batters later to close out the 11-5 final.
Tyler Kinley (2-0) picked up the win with a scoreless sixth inning, while Guardians starter Slade Cecconi (0-2) took the loss after surrendering seven hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
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