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