Bryce Elder Set for Red Sox Rematch in Braves - Red Sox
braves - red sox shifts to Wednesday night with Bryce Elder scheduled to start against Connelly Early at 6:45 p.m. EDT. The Braves are trying to secure a series win in a six-game regular-season set, and this is the same matchup that has already produced a split in Atlanta two weekends earlier.
Bryce Elder, Connelly Early
Elder took the hill in the Braves' only loss in that earlier series, a 3-2 defeat in which he allowed a two-run home run on his fourth trip through the Boston order. Early pitched the day before in a 3-2 Braves win, but the two starters did not face each other then.
That setup gives this game a different edge. The clubs meet only six times during the 2026 regular season, so one swing can shape the entire season series, and Wednesday is a chance for Atlanta to flip the result from that 3-2 loss.
Home runs on both sides
Elder’s recent line against Boston was sharp in the strikeout and walk column: 3/0 over eight innings in his previous outing against the Red Sox. He also allowed the game-losing home run in that start, then posted a 4/1 K/BB ratio with one homer allowed across six innings against the Nationals.
His overall run prevention has tracked better than the raw damage from that one Boston outing. After 11 starts, Elder carried a 48/83/92 ERA-/FIP-/xFIP- line.
Early’s profile is louder in the other direction. He struck out six without a walk in five innings against the Braves in that previous meeting, but Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II each hit solo home runs off him, and he had allowed nine home runs over his last seven starts with three multihomer games in that span. On the season, Early carried a 78/115/103 ERA-/FIP-/xFIP- line.
Wednesday at Fenway
Rain has already interrupted the Braves for the second consecutive day, but the matchup still comes back to the same point: Elder has to hold Boston in the middle and late innings, while Early has to keep the ball in the park long enough for the Red Sox to protect a narrow game. The one that got away in Atlanta was 3-2; this one starts at 6:45 p.m. EDT, with the series still hanging on the result.
