Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. celebrates after hitting a home run against the Athletics in the first inning at Sutter Health Park on Jul 9, 2025. — Reuters
WEST SACRAMENTO: Ronald Acuna Jr. returned from a day off and delivered a two homer performance while Drake Baldwin belted a three-run blast, leading the Atlanta Braves to a convincing 9–2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.
Acuna set the tone immediately with a leadoff home run in the first inning his 22nd of the season sending a towering drive out of the ballpark. He picked up his second solo shot in the fourth, drilling a pitch well outside the zone for his 23rd homer.
It was the 14th multi-homer game of Acuna’s career, and his first since missing Tuesday’s contest with back tightness.
Baldwin extended the lead in the first when he crushed a 431-foot, three run homer to right center off A’s starter Mitch Spence, putting Atlanta up 4–0. Spence labored through six innings, yielding eight runs, seven earned on nine hits.
Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna also went deep against Spence. Riley’s solo shot in the third made it 5–0, and Ozuna’s two-run drive in the fifth pushed the advantage to 7–0.
Braves right-hander Bryce Elder picked up his first win since May four, working six ⅔ innings of two-run ball while striking out seven and allowing six hits. Elder and the Atlanta bullpen combined to strand runners in scoring position in each of Oakland’s late innings.
Atlanta’s offense continued to pour it on in the seventh. Matt Olson crossed the plate three times, including scoring on a walk and later on a double by Jurickson Profar that capped the Braves’ nine-run output.
Oakland managed only two runs off a pair of RBI groundouts one by Lawrence Butler in the third and another by Gio Urshela in the sixth. The loss was the A’s fourth in six games.
The series will conclude on Thursday, with Braves ace Spencer Strider set to face Oakland’s JP Sears in the finale. The teams split the first two games of the three-game set.