Braves blast 3 homers as Chris Sale shines in a 6-0 opening-night win over the Royals

By Canadian Press on March 27, 2026.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Braves homered three times to back six strong innings by Chris Sale, leading Atlanta to a 6-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on opening night Friday.

Coming off an injury plagued season that ended their streak of seven straight playoff appearances and already plagued by an ailing starting rotation, Sale (1-0) provided just what the Braves needed. He allowed three hits and three walks with six strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen.

Ozzie Albies homered in the first, reigning NL rookie of the year Drake Baldwin went deep in the third, and Michael Harris II added a two-run shot off Royals starter Cole Ragans (0-1) in the fourth. The left-hander was lifted after that inning, having surrendered six hits with four walks.

Braves newcomer Mauricio Dubón finished off the scoring, driving in two runs with a double to the gap in right-center against Bailey Falter in the seventh.

There are plenty of doubts about the Braves rotation after Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep went down in the spring training before Spencer Strider joined them on the injured list late in camp. For one night at least, Sale showed that the top of the starting staff is in good hands.

The bullpen looks much stronger, with former San Diego closer Robert Suárez working a scoreless eighth in his new role as the Braves set-up man for Raisel Iglesias.

YANKEES 3, GIANTS 0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer in the sixth to end an 0-for-7 start to his year after the two-time reigning AL MVP had a strike call overturned by the automated system earlier in the same at-bat when he challenged, and New York beat San Francisco.

After going hitless on opening day for the first time in the Yankees’ shutout win two days earlier, Judge connected on a 405-foot drive to left with an exit velocity of 109.1 mph that broke up a scoreless game and marked his fourth career home run off Robbie Ray (0-1).

The ball bounced off a staircase just inside the foul pole.

It was the seventh pitch he saw from Ray, and fifth after the slugger challenged a strike call — an 86.1 mph slider — from plate umpire Chad Fairchild and had it overturned to a ball by the so-called robot umpire.

The Giants, who had just one hit, are the first team to be shut out with five or fewer combined hits over the first two games of a season.

MARLINS 2, ROCKIES 1

MIAMI (AP) — Javier Sanoja had three hits, Sandy Alcantara allowed one run over seven innings and Miami opened the season with a win over Colorado.

Alcantara (1-0) made his franchise-leading sixth start on opening day and struck out five, allowed four hits and walked two. It was a promising beginning to the season for the 2022 NL Cy Young award winner after a rollercoaster 2025 during which he went 11-13 with a 5.36 ERA while facing trade rumors.

Sanoja went 3-for-3 with a run-scoring single in the second.

The Marlins improved to 14-20 on opening day, while the Rockies fell to 17-17.

Alcantara allowed just one baserunner until the fourth inning, when Jake McCarthy hit a leadoff bunt single and stole second before being thrown out at home by right fielder Austin Slater on Hunter Goodman’s single. Jordan Beck hit an RBI single later in the inning.

Miami opened the scoring in the second when designated hitter Owen Caissie hit a run-scoring double in his first at-bat with the Marlins, allowing Xavier Edwards to score from first. Caissie was a late addition to Friday’s lineup after first baseman Chris Morel was scratched because of a strained oblique.

BLUE JAYS 3, ATHLETICS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Andrés Giménez drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the ninth inning and Toronto beat the Athletics.

Giménez had three RBIs, including a two-run triple in the fifth.

Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers hit two home runs, including a game-tying blast off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman (1-0) in the top of the ninth, but Toronto used three straight hits off Justin Sterner (0-1) to win it in the bottom half.

Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto singled, went to third on Ernie Clement’s high-bouncing double over third base, and scored when Giménez grounded a base hit up the middle.

Making his major league debut after signing with the Blue Jays in January, Okamoto finished 2 for 3. He struck out swinging in his first at-bat, walked and scored Toronto’s first run of the season in a two-run fifth, then lined his first hit in the seventh.

Hoffman blew the save in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series when he gave up a game-tying homer to Miguel Rojas.

Friday’s tying homer came one batter after Toronto successfully challenged umpire Marvin Hudson’s two-strike call on Nick Kurtz to begin the ninth, with Kurtz called out on strikes.

ANGELS 6, ASTROS 2

HOUSTON (AP) — Mike Trout, Josh Lowe and Zach Neto hit home runs and Los Angeles beat Houston.

In his second game with the Angels, Lowe broke a 1-1 tie in the second when he sent a first pitch fastball from Mike Burrows into the Crawford Boxes for a three-run homer. Lowe was acquired by the Angels in a trade from the Tampa Bay Rays on Jan. 16.

Trout’s fifth inning solo home run was part of a three-hit game, and it marks the first time in his 16-year major league career that he’s gone deep in his first two games of a season.

Neto added a solo shot leading off the ninth inning for his second extra base hit of the night.

The long balls were in support of an Angels staff led by Yusei Kikuchi, who allowed two runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. The bullpen quartet of Chase Silseth, Ryan Zeferjahn (1-0), Sam Bachman and Jordan Romano combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings.

Burrows (0-1), who was making his Astros debut after he was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Dec. 19, surrendered five runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six.

Yordan Alvarez hit a home run for the Astros, while Carlos Correa went 2 for 3 with a walk.

The Associated Press

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