Kansas City Royals at Atlanta Braves

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

0-1, 0-1 Away

Final
0 - 6

Atlanta Braves

1-0, 1-0 Home

3 homers, strong start by Chris Sale carry Braves to 6-0 win over Royals on opening night in Atlanta

Eli White makes a nice diving catch for the Braves

Coming off an injury plagued season that ended their streak of seven straight playoff appearances and already plagued by an ailing starting rotation, Sale (1-0) provided just what the Braves needed. He allowed three hits and three walks with six strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen.

Ozzie Albies homered in the first, reigning NL rookie of the year Drake Baldwin went deep in the third, and Michael Harris II added a two-run shot off Royals starter Cole Ragans (0-1) in the fourth. The left-hander was lifted after that inning, having surrendered six hits with four walks.

Braves newcomer Mauricio Dubón finished off the scoring, driving in two runs with a double to the gap in right-center against Bailey Falter in the seventh.

There are plenty of doubts about the Braves rotation after Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep went down in the spring training before Spencer Strider joined them on the injured list late in camp. For one night at least, Sale showed that the top of the starting staff is in good hands.

The bullpen looks much stronger, with former San Diego closer Robert Suárez working a scoreless eighth in his new role as the Braves set-up man for Raisel Iglesias.

Atlanta also made a winner of new manager Walt Weiss, who took over after the departure of Brian Snitker. It was Weiss' first victory in the top role since 2016, when he finished up a four-year run as Colorado's manager.

Up next Royals: RHP Michael Wacha takes the mound in the second of three games in the series at Truist Park. He is 1-4 with a 4.42 ERA in nine career outings against Atlanta, including seven starts.

Braves: RHP Reynaldo López makes his first start in exactly a year. He went five innings against San Diego on March 28, 2025, before being shut down for the rest of the season with shoulder issues.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Atlanta Braves?

TV Channel: Royals at Braves 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	India popped out to first.
	9th Inning	Caglianone struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Caglianone hit for Marte
	9th Inning	Pasquantino grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Kinley relieved R. Suarez
	8th Inning	Baldwin grounded out to first.

Statistics

KC		ATL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
10	Ground Balls	9
8	Strikeouts	10
0	Runs Batted In	6
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
5	Hits	11
1	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	4
0	Catcher Interference	0
0	Runs	6
2	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
30	At Bats	34
0	Home Runs	3
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
14	Runners Left On Base	13
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	2
12	Fly Balls	15
0	Caught Stealing	1
127	Pitches	149
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
5	Total Bases	22
34	Plate Appearances	38
0.0	Projected Home Runs	486.0
0	Extra Base Hits	5
0.8	Runs Created	7.9
.167	Batting Average	.324
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.167	Slugging Percentage	.647
.133	Secondary Average	.412
.265	On Base Percentage	.395
.431	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	1.042
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
0.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	8.8
6.0	Batter Rating	48.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	11.3
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.74	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.92
.000	Isolated Power	.324
0.38	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.40
.088	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.105
-.033	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.088
0.0	Runs Produced	12.0
0.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.7
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.4
62.0	MLB Rating	96.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0