Braves walk off on Royals, boost wild-card aspirations

Travis d'Arnaud hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 win against the visiting Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

With one out, d'Arnaud sent a fastball from Royals reliever Sam Long (3-3) 421 feet over the center field wall.

The Braves hold a half-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second National League wild-card spot, pending the result of Arizona's game against the San Diego Padres later Saturday night.

Closer Raisel Iglesias (6-2) worked a perfect ninth to earn the win for the Braves (88-71), who have won five straight.

Kansas City has (85-76) has dropped nine of 12.

The Royals struggled to get on base after opening the scoring early against Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez. Lopez worked six innings, striking out nine while holding Kansas City to one run on two hits.

With Braves reliever Pierce Johnson in for the seventh, Mikael Garcia drew a leadoff walk but was picked off with Salvador Perez at the plate. Perez then followed with a ground-rule double, but a pair of strikeouts ended the frame.

Then in the eighth, Garrett Hampson and pinch hitter Michael Massey drew consecutive four-pitch walks with two outs before Adam Frazier's groundout ended the inning.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the third. Freddy Fermin knocked a leadoff single to center and went to third on Hampson's ensuing single to give Kansas City two on with nobody out. Fermin scored when Dairon Blanco grounded into a double play.

The Braves tied it in the fourth. Jorge Soler hit a sharp fly ball to the wall for a two-out double and scored when Michael Lorenzen's throw to first off a ball in play by Ramon Laureano eluded Hampson.

In the fifth, with Daniel Lynch IV on the mound for the Royals, the hosts had a chance to go in front. Orlando Arcia connected for a one-out double to left and Michael Harris II followed him by drawing a walk, but Ozzie Albies grounded into a double play.

--Field Level Media