Kansas City Royals at Atlanta Braves

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

1-2, 1-2 Away

Final
4 - 1

Atlanta Braves

2-1, 2-1 Home

Seth Lugo throws 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Royals beat Braves 4-1 for their 1st win of the season

Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino had RBI singles for the Royals, who blew a ninth-inning lead a day earlier and avoided a season-opening sweep. Witt had five hits in the series.

Jensen was 1 for 3 with two RBI, adding a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to his solo home run in the fourth.

Lugo (1-0) gave up five hits, struck out three and walked none while throwing 55 of his 77 pitches for strikes. He did survive three deep fly balls with exit velocities all over 105 mph from Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and Michael Harris II that were caught up against the outfield wall.

Drake Baldwin hit a solo home run to right field with the Braves trailing 4-0 in the eighth inning.

Lucas Erceg picked up the save for the Royals with a scoreless ninth inning.

Royals closer Carlos Estévez was hit in the ankle during Saturday night's blown save and was in a walking boot Sunday morning. X-rays were negative, although Royals manager Matt Quatraro said it was the ankle that would keep Estévez out Sunday — not his shaky spring performance or because he surrendered six runs in 1/3 of an inning Saturday.

Braves starter Grant Holmes (0-1) gave up three runs in five innings with two walks and four strikeouts. Rookie Didier Fuentes, 20, gave up one run in four innings in relief of Holmes.

Up next Royals: LHP Kris Bubic (8-7, 2.55 ERA in 2025) will face the Minnesota Twins in the Royals' 2026 home opener at Kauffman Stadium on Monday.

Braves: RHP Bryce Elder (8-11, 5.30) will oppose Athletics RHP Aaron Civale (4-9, 4.85) in the opener of a three-game series in Atlanta on Monday.

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	Albies grounded into double play, shortstop to first, Yastrzemski out at second.
	9th Inning	Yastrzemski singled to left.
	9th Inning	Riley struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Erceg relieved Schreiber
	9th Inning	Collins in left field.
	9th Inning	Thomas in right field.

Statistics

KC		ATL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
8	Ground Balls	10
8	Strikeouts	5
4	Runs Batted In	1
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	7
0	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	0
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	1
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
33	At Bats	33
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
13	Runners Left On Base	10
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	1
18	Fly Balls	18
0	Caught Stealing	0
132	Pitches	116
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
11	Total Bases	11
37	Plate Appearances	33
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
2	Extra Base Hits	2
3.2	Runs Created	1.8
.212	Batting Average	.212
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.333	Slugging Percentage	.333
.212	Secondary Average	.121
.270	On Base Percentage	.212
.604	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.545
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
3.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	1.8
28.0	Batter Rating	16.0
33.0	At Bats Per Home Run	33.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.57	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.52
.121	Isolated Power	.121
0.38	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.00
.081	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.000
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.091
8.0	Runs Produced	2.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
77.5	MLB Rating	71.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0