The Braves hit three home runs, Chris Sale was (mostly) sharp, and Walt Weiss recorded his first win as the Braves’ manager in a 6-0 victory over the visiting Royals on Friday at Truist Park.
Sale went six innings, struck out six, walked three and gave up three hits in six scoreless innings. He threw 88 pitches (54 strikes), induced nine whiffs and totaled 17 first-pitch strikes.
Friday’s win was the Braves’ first opening-day shutout since beating the Nationals 2-0 on March 31, 2011.
“It’s great opening up at home. Last year, that was a meat grinder for us, having to go all the way out to the West Coast and play two really good teams,” Weiss said. “It’s just good to put that narrative behind us and get that first one at home. Especially after last year, it’s nice to be 1-0 right now.”
Weiss was deemed the “player of the game” for his first win as Braves manager. His players rewarded him by forcing him to attempt a postgame putt in the clubhouse, a shot that Weiss estimated as a 30 or 40-foot putt.
“There’s a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ and a lot of stuff on the line,” Weiss said. “So, yeah, I got to do the player of the game putt, and they gave me a nice little gift for my first win. It was a great night.”
Weiss missed the putt. That was about the only thing to go awry on this night.
Sale was staked to a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to a solo homer from Ozzie Albies, and the home team never looked back, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 39,697 on opening day. And with six strikeouts Friday, Sale passed Bob Feller (2,581) and Warren Spahn (2,583) to move into 30th on MLB’s all-time career strikeouts list.
Tom Glavine is 29th with 2,607.
“It’s special. And I appreciate it. I feel like I’m a fan of the game as much as I’m a player in this game. Knowing who those two guys were, just absolute legends in this game. Men amongst men, if you will,” Sale said. “It’s hard for me to kind of wrap my brain around and talk about, but I appreciate it, and it’s humbling just to be in the same sentence as those guys because I don’t forget being 12 years old and thinking about all of this.”
Albies, hitting third in the lineup, gave all the run support Sale needed when he took a 2-1 change-up from Royals starter Cole Ragans and hooked it around the pole in left for a solo homer. It was Albies’ third career opening day home run (2025, 2018).
“Definitely a great feeling,” Albies said. “Hitting a homer in front of the home crowd is definitely a special feeling.”
Drake Baldwin put the Braves up 2-0 by sending a solo home run out to right in the third inning. The 110-mph screamer just cleared the line above the wall and into the Chop House seats.
Sale (1-0) got through six innings thanks, in part, to a pair of spectacular defensive plays behind him in his last half inning: Ronald Acuña Jr. made a shoestring catch running into right-center, and Austin Riley made a diving stab on a line drive to his left to end the frame.
“We kind of checked all the boxes. We threw the ball really well tonight,” Sale added. “We had a D-Lee and Suarez and Kinley come in and, just, zero, zero, zero, relatively easy innings. Unbelievable defensive plays. Half the texts I’m getting is, like, ‘You better do something for your defense.’ And then again, just setting the tone with the bats, putting the ball out of the ballpark and just kind of everyone contributing and doing something. It was a good one to get off on the right foot with.”
New Braves’ shortstop Mauricio Dubón split the gap in right with two outs and two on in the seventh to provide some insurance.
Dylan Lee got three flyball outs in the seventh, Robert Suarez allowed a pair of two-out singles in the eighth but nothing more, and Tyler Kinley pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
Ragans (0-1) allowed four earned runs (on three homers) and six hits in four innings. He struck out five and walked four.
The Braves improved to 9-1 in home openers at Truist Park and have outscored the opponent 68-29 in those 10 games.
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