Atlanta Braves’ Dominic Smith (8) celebrates with teammates at home plate after hitting a walkoff grand slam in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Before a 3-2 pitch from Royals closer Carlos Samuel Estévez on Saturday night, Braves designated hitter Dominic Smith asked for time to compose himself. In the next few moments, he made Braves — and MLB — history.
Smith launched a fastball 386 feet into the cool March night for a walk-off grand slam, giving the Braves a 6-2 win over the Royals and a 2-0 start to the season. Smith’s swing capped a six-run ninth for the Braves, who were mostly listless offensively until that point — until Estévez was erratic and Smith heroic.
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Chad Bishop is the Atlanta Braves beat writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.ajc.com ’
