<\/p>\n
ATLANTA<\/strong> \u2014 What began as a promising bounce-back for the Kansas City Royals dissolved into a nightmare at Truist Park on Saturday night. A dominant start by Michael Wacha and a late-inning lead evaporated in the ninth as closer Carlos Est\u00e9vez surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith, handing the Royals a crushing 6-2 loss to the Braves.<\/p>\n While the loss marks just the second game of the 2026 season, the manner of the defeat has amplified concerns regarding the velocity and command of the reigning MLB saves leader.<\/p>\n The Royals entered the night looking to shake off a 15-inning scoreless drought to start the season. After a quiet start, the bats finally woke up to provide a two-run cushion for a bullpen that, until the ninth, looked untouchable.<\/p>\n The wheels came off quickly for Est\u00e9vez. Tasked with protecting a 2-1 lead, the veteran right-hander struggled with the same diminished velocity that plagued him throughout Spring Training.<\/p>\n Est\u00e9vez\u2019s fastball, which averaged 95.9 mph in 2025, sat at a concerning 91.2 mph on Saturday\u2014a 4.7 mph drop from his previous season average. The lack of \u201czip\u201d was compounded by a lack of control; he threw 27 pitches, but only 12 found the strike zone.<\/p>\n The inning turned from bad to worse when Michael Harris II scorched a 103.5 mph comebacker off Est\u00e9vez\u2019s left ankle. While X-rays were fortunately negative, the play allowed the Braves to keep the pressure on. Moments later, Dominic Smith turned on a 92.3 mph fastball left over the heart of the plate, sending it into the seats for a game-ending grand slam.<\/p>\n Despite the rocky start, the Royals\u2019 clubhouse remains publicly united behind their closer.<\/p>\n \u201cI trust and believe in him 100%,\u201d said catcher Salvador Perez. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bad one. I think he is going to figure out what\u2019s going on\u2026 He did it last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Manager Matt Quatraro acknowledged the necessity of a velocity recovery but doubled down on his veteran reliever. \u201cWe\u2019re still hopeful that it comes back,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big difference from throwing 91 to 97-98\u2026 But we\u2019re not going to run from him.\u201d<\/p>\n For Est\u00e9vez, the focus remains on mechanics over the radar gun. \u201cI feel like even if I execute my pitches at the velocity that I have, I\u2019m going to get my outs,\u201d Est\u00e9vez noted. \u201cI have to execute better.\u201d<\/p>\n The Royals will look to salvage the series today, though all eyes will remain on the bullpen gate to see if their closer can find his missing fire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sunflowerstateradio.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ATLANTA \u2014 What began as a promising bounce-back for the Kansas City Royals dissolved into a nightmare at Truist Park on Saturday night. A dominant start by Michael Wacha and a late-inning lead evaporated in the ninth as closer Carlos Est\u00e9vez surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith, handing the Royals a crushing 6-2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2350308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Royals-Acquire-Outfielder-Isaac-Collins-and-Pitcher-Nick-Mears-from.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2350308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2350309,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350308\/revisions\/2350309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2350308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2350308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2350308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A Tale of Two Pitching Staffs<\/h3>\n
\n
The Ninth Inning Collapse<\/h3>\n
Post-Game Reactions<\/h3>\n
By the Numbers: Est\u00e9vez\u2019s Night<\/h3>\n
\n\n
\n Stat<\/strong><\/td>\n Performance<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n \n Pitches\/Strikes<\/strong><\/td>\n 27 \/ 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Avg. Fastball Velocity<\/strong><\/td>\n 91.2 mph (Down 4.7 mph from 2025)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Whiffs<\/strong><\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Result<\/strong><\/td>\n 4 ER, BS, L<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n