Cleveland Guardians vs Atlanta Braves Prediction: Guardians to turn things around

Wednesday's Major League Baseball action from Progressive Field features a matchup between the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Guardians. This will be the second game in a trilogy consisting of three total entries. The Braves were victorious in their season opener on Monday with a two-run victory.

Over the course of the weekend, the Cleveland Guardians were successful in winning two of their three matches against the Chicago Cubs. The Cleveland Guardians scored a couple of runs in the seventh inning on Tuesday, but they were unable to complete the comeback and lost to the Braves in the opening match of this series. Gavin Williams went 6.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out two. On Wednesday, the Cleveland Guardians will put Shane Bieber in the starting position for the game. This season, in 17 starts, Bieber has a record of 5-5 with a 3.48 earned run average and 85 strikeouts in 106.0 innings pitched. After 130 games (including 128 starts), Bieber has a record of 59-31 with a 3.22 earned run average. The Cleveland Guardians have a record of 3-13 over their last 16 games played on Wednesday, but they have a perfect record of 4-0 in their last four games played in game two of a series. In their previous 34 games at home, the Cleveland Guardians have an under record of 23-9-2.

In their most recent series, which was contested against the Miami Marlins, the Atlanta Braves were victorious, sweeping the Marlins in all three games. On Tuesday, the Atlanta Braves also defeated the Cleveland Guardians 4-2 thanks to a pair of goals scored in the third inning of that game. Bryce Elder, the starting pitcher, was able to last 6.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits while walking two batters. Kolby Allard of Atlanta will take the field for the game on Wednesday as the team's starting quarterback. Allard has made just one start so far this season, and he has a perfect ERA without a decision. In his career, Allard has appeared in 66 games (36 starts), compiling a record of 9-23 with an earned run average of 5.95. The Atlanta Braves have a record of 40-14 in their previous 54 games played on Wednesday and 45-14 in their last 59 games played in game two of a series. In their last 51 games played on grass, the Atlanta Braves have posted a 37-14 record.

This time around, I'm going to take a shot on the Cleveland Guardians. In his most recent start, Bieber pitched well against Kansas City, allowing only two hits and one walk over six scoreless innings. Prior to that, however, he had allowed nine earned runs over 12.1 innings in two losses. A strong performance from Bieber is going to be required here. As a result of Xzavion Curry's strong relief effort for the Cleveland Guardians in the opening game on Tuesday (2.2 innings, no earned runs, no walks, no hits, two strikeouts), the bullpen will be in good shape moving forward. In what is expected to be a tightly contested matchup, I believe that the Guardians will be able to pull even in the second game of the series.