{"id":2348767,"date":"2026-03-28T03:40:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2348767"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:40:22","slug":"braves-blank-royals-in-opening-day-shutout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/braves-blank-royals-in-opening-day-shutout\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves Blank Royals in Opening Day Shutout"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Atlanta Braves won their series opener against the Kansas City Royals, 6-0, in Truist Park on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Here is Today\u2019s Three Things from the contest.<\/p>\n

Atlanta had the game clearly in hand the entire time, but the \u2018dagger\u2019, if you will, came in the fourth inning. <\/p>\n

Up 2-0 after solo homers in the 1st and 3rd inning, <\/span>Jonah Heim<\/a> drew a one-out walk. It was a good bit of work from him, too – he was down 1-2 in the at-bat and refused to bite on a fastball in, a changeup in the dirt, or an elevated fastball. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then Michael Harris came to the plate. Having struck out the previous at-bat on eight pitches, he was clearly feeling comfortable with the entire arsenal of Royals starter <\/span>Cole Ragans<\/a>. This time, rather than continuing to run up the pitch count on Ragans, Harris correctly identified a hanging slider middle-in on the first pitch and promptly pulled it into the Chop House. <\/span><\/p>\n

That was the final dagger for Ragans, who would finish the inning but not come back out for the 5th. He was charged with the loss after allowing four runs on six hits (three homers) and four walks with six strikeouts. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re going with starter <\/span>Chris Sale<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The veteran lefty and 2024 <\/span>Cy Young<\/a> winner looked phenomenal tonight, allowing just two hits and no runs across six innings. He was clearly manipulating his velocity, running it up to 98 multiple times when he had runners on or with two outs, but otherwise being comfortable to let it dip as low as 92. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the game, he finished with nine whiffs (five on the fastball) and a 27% CSW. <\/p>\n

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Something interesting was that he got out of some early jams via ground ball double play, in both the first and second innings. <\/span>Per Braves broadcaster CJ Nitkowski<\/a>, tonight\u2019s two ground ball double plays equal the total he induced in the entire 2025 season. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sale remarked in his postgame media availability that he was aware of how good the defense played behind him, citing both the double plays and some diving catches from Eli White, Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., and Austin Riley. <\/p>\n

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Chad Bishop<\/span>@MrChadBishop<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHalf the texts I\u2019m getting are, \u2018You better do something for your defense.\u2019\u201d
\n\u2013 Chris Sale<\/p>\n

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1:59 AM \u00b7 Mar 28, 2026<\/span> \u00b7 <\/span>1.29K Views<\/span><\/p>\n

33 Likes<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The offense.<\/p>\n

Atlanta finished with eleven hits, with five of them being for extra bases (three homers and two doubles). The heartening part of that was that none of those homers and only one of the doubles came from the trio of Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr (0-5, 3Ks), Olson (2-4, 2B, R), or <\/span>Austin Riley<\/a> (3-3, R, BB). Instead, Harris was joined by <\/span>Drake Baldwin<\/a> and <\/span>Ozzie Albies<\/a> on the homer tally, and <\/span>Mauricio Dub\u00f3n<\/a> had a big two-run, two-out double in the 7th inning for some much-needed insurance. <\/span><\/p>\n

The baserunning was on point tonight, as well. On that Dub\u00f3n double, there was a play on the plate, as Austin Riley was (successfully) attempting to score from first base. Dub\u00f3n correctly read the throw going from right field to home plate and continued on to third base, something that the Braves were among the league\u2019s worst at last season. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the high home camera angle, where you can see Dub\u00f3n slow up as he nears second to both read where the defense might send the throw and also to pick up third base coach Tommy Watkins\u2019 directions. <\/p>\n

Manager <\/span>Walt Weiss<\/a> referenced the play in his postgame press conference, discussing how baserunning was going to be part of the team\u2019s identity this season. Despite Ozzie Albies being thrown out attempting to steal second in the 3rd inning, Weiss was ultimately pleased with the team\u2019s aggressiveness on the bases tonight. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s tonight\u2019s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the win\/loss. <\/p>\n

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