ATLANTA — Austin Riley knocked in Ronald Acuña Jr. with a 10th inning single Sunday and the Atlanta Braves rallied late to beat the Guardians 4-3 and win a three-game series between the top two teams in the majors.
A.J. Minter (4-1) picked up the win by throwing a scoreless 10th inning.
Emmanuel Clase (1-0) took the loss.
The win was the 11th in the last 13 games by the Braves, who handed the Guardians their first loss in a road series in five tries.
The Guardians ran themselves out of the 10th inning. Stephen Kwan was picked off trying to steal third with one out, and José Ramírez was tagged out at second after it looked like he thought there would be no throw to challenge him.
Riley was 2-for-4 with a walk and Ozzie Albies was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Braves tied the game 3-3 in the eighth on an RBI double by Albies and an RBI single by Matt Olson.
Braves starter Bryce Elder lasted 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits with two strikeouts. After having no walks in his first start of the season, Elder struggled a bit with control, walking four, having a hit batsman and throwing two wild pitches. The last wild pitch allowed Brayan Rocchio to score from third with the Guardians' second run in the fifth inning.
Elder was also hit on the right foot by a 95 mph comebacker from Andrés Giménez in the third inning. After a visit from the athletic trainer, Elder threw two warmup pitches and stayed in the game.
Guardians starter Ben Lively gave up one run in 4 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and two walks.
Rocchio was 2-for-3 with two steals and two runs scored and Giménez went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a steal for the Guardians.
The Guardians were aggressive on the base paths. One day after pulling off a key double steal late in a 4-2 win, the Guardians stole three more bases Saturday, though they were also picked off twice and thrown out twice.
UP NEXT
Guardians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (1-2, 4.63) will face the Astros RHP Hunter Brown (0-4, 9.68) in Game 1 of a three-game series in Houston on Tuesday.
Braves: LHP Max Fried (2-0 4.97) will open a three-game series in Seattle against Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (3-2, 2.22) on Monday.