New season, different start for Braves seeking sweep of Royals

The Atlanta Braves, who lost their first seven games a year ago, go for a three-game sweep of the visiting Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Atlanta won the season opener 6-0 on Friday and rallied for six runs in the ninth inning on Saturday for a 6-2 walk-off victory, thanks to Dominic Smith's grand slam.

"Just putting that narrative behind this from last year," Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. "Last night was a great night, opening night, and to follow it up with something like this ... There's some good mojo going already, you know, after two games."

The pitching matchup for the series finale -- the final time the clubs will meet this year -- features a pair of right-handers -- Atlanta's Grant Holmes (4-9, 3.99 ERA in 22 games, 21 starts in 2025) against Kansas City's Seth Lugo (8-7, 4.15 in 26 starts).

Lugo will begin his third season with Kansas City. He had 125 strikeouts in 145 1/3 innings last season after finishing second in the American League Cy Young voting in 2024. His 2025 season was hindered by a pair of stints on the injured list, one for a sprained right middle finger and the other for a lower back strain.

Lugo has made 30 career appearances against Atlanta, six of them starts. He is 6-5 with a 3.76 ERA overall, but 5-0 with a 1.87 ERA n six career starts versus the Braves.

Holmes has some physical question marks to answer, too. He was shut down in July with a partially torn UCL and opted for rehab rather than undergoing surgery.

"The elbow is strong," Holmes said. "No setbacks in the rehab. I feel like every day I got better. Didn't have any days where I went backward. I feel like the time off really helped by elbow kind of heal and get the rest it needed."

Holmes has made one career relief appearance against Kansas City, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He did not face the Royals last season.

The Royals haven't found a way to generate much offense so far this season. After getting blanked in the opener, they scored twice in the second game -- a solo homer from Salvador Perez to end a 15-inning scoreless streak, and another run on an error.

"It was the first run we'd scored in two games, so everybody was excited," Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. "Sally (Perez) has done that a million times and it was big for us, and to tack on another one in the eighth, that was good. We just need to do more to get ahead by more than what we were then."

The home run by Perez was the 304th of his career and leaves him 13 shy of tying Hall of Famer George Brett for the most in franchise history.

Atlanta had two late pickups produce in the ninth. Dominic Smith, who was added to the roster on March 21, hit the game-winning grand slam. Osvaldo Bido, who joined the team on Wednesday, struck out the side in the ninth to earn the win.

"What a moment for Dom," Weiss said. "He's just a professional hitter. I used to hate to see him in the box when he was on the other side because I knew it was going to be a tough out. I'm just glad he's on our club."

--Field Level Media