Bryce Elder had it all working Monday, even his pickoff move, in his season debut.
The Braves’ right-hander threw six scoreless inning and scattered five hits in what became a 4-0 Braves win over the visiting Athletics at Truist Park. Elder (1-0) also picked off Lawrence Butler in the second, the first pickoff of Elder’s career in more than 436 innings.
“I always just kind of focus on trying to be quick to the plate and change the looks to keep ‘em on first, but it was sure was nice there to get an out there,” Elder said with a grin.
Elder threw 29 sliders and 28 sinkers en route to his first victory of the young campaign. He got six ground ball outs and 52 of his 83 pitches were strikes.
Carlos Cortes’ double in the third inning was the lone extra-base hit Elder allowed.
“Get ahead and work from there. Give myself a chance early over the plate,” Elder said. “Obviously I’m gonna give up some hits early, even some hard-hit balls, but try to keep it front of the outfielders. And if it is a solo homer, that’s fine, just take my chances early.”
Said catcher Jonah Heim, who has now caught both of the Braves’ shutouts this season: “(Elder) was great. He was executing all his pitches. We stayed out of damage. We gave up some singles, but that was about it. He made pitches when he needed to, so it was an all-around good performance.”
Three of the Braves’ four runs came in the first inning. Ronald Acuña Jr. reached base all four plate appearances thanks to a pair of walks, a single and a double. Mauricio Dubón had three hits and drove in three runs.
The Braves (3-1) took advantage of a shaky start by A’s right-hander Jacob Lopez by plating three in the first. Matt Olson lobbed an RBI double down the left field line and Dubón took an inside pitch the other way to drop in a two-run double into shallow right making it 3-0.
Lopez faced all nine hitters in the first, walked three batters and had to throw 41 pitches.
The last pitch Lopez (0-1) threw in the first was popped into right field by Michael Harris II, leaving the bases loaded. The Braves wound up stranding seven runners during the four innings they faced Lopez who left before the fifth having only allowed the three first-inning runs.
Aaron Bummer worked around a one-out double to pitch a scoreless seventh for the Braves, Robert Suarez got an inning-ending double play after an error and a single in the eighth and Raisel Iglesias faced the minimum in a scoreless ninth.
Dubón provided some insurance in the eight with an RBI single to left after a Mike Yastrzemski triple. The team’s new shortstop made two errors, but neither proved costly.
“That’s part of the game. I’m not sweating about it,” Dubón said. “Three hits came in pretty handy to help the team win, too.”
The ‘26 Braves became the third team in franchise history with two shutouts in their first four games, joining the 1906 and 1899 teams then known as the Beaneaters.
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