Royals battle with Braves but rally falls short in 10-7 loss

By MATT PIKE

The Kansas City Royals battled with the Atlanta Braves, falling behind big in the eighth inning, but a late rally fell short and the Royals fell 10-7 to open a the series at Kauffman Stadium on Monday evening. 

The Royals opened the scoring in the first inning with two runs, the first coming in on an RBI double by Maikel Garcia, driving in Jonathan India after his leadoff single to the inning.  Garcia later scored on an RBI single by Salvador Perez, beating a throw to home plate by Garcia’s cousin in right field Ronald Acuña Jr.

The Braves tied up the game in the third inning as Acuña Jr hit a two run home run to left center field off Royals starter Rich Hill, driving in Matt Olson after his two out walk.  In the fourth inning, a two run home run by Marcell Ozuna gave the Braves the lead in the game, scoring Ozzie Albies.  

Another home run extended the Braves lead in the seventh inning, a solo home run by Austin Riley.  In the bottom half of the inning, the Royals cut the Atlanta lead to two after back to back doubles by Bobby Witt Jr and Vinnie Pasquantino.  But in the next inning, the Braves would pull away, scoring four runs in the top of the eighth inning. 

With Nick Allen on after a one out walk, and Jurickson Profar following a single, Olson doubled to drive in the first run of the inning scoring Allen.  After Steven Cruz intentionally walked Acuña Jr to load the bases, Riley doubled to unload the bases, scoring Profar, Olson, and Acuña Jr for all the runs in the inning.  In the bottom half of the inning, Randal Grichuk hit his first home run in a Royals uniform to help cut into the lead, putting the Royals down 9-4.

In the ninth inning, an RBI single from Profar put the Braves back up by six, driving in Allen after his one out double.  In the bottom half, the Royals did start to put together a comeback rally, loading the bases with a double by Witt Jr and walks to Pasquantino and Garcia, before Witt Jr and Pasquantino scored on a single by Freddy Fermin.  A sacrifice fly by Adam Frazier was the first out, driving in Garcia and putting the Royals down by three, before Grichuk lined out and MJ Melendez flew out to end the game. 

Hill took the loss, falling to 0-2 on the season, pitching four innings and giving up four runs on three hits while walking six and striking out three.  At the plate, Garcia was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and an RBI.  Witt Jr was 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored.  

Kansas City looks to even up the series with Atlanta tomorrow.  Seth Lugo (7-5, 2.95 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against former Cardinal, recently acquired Erick Fedde (3-10, 5.22 ERA) for the Braves.  First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame coverage will begin at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM). 

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.