Braves vs. Royals Game Highlights (7/28/25) | MLB Highlights

Braves vs. Royals Game Highlights (7/28/25) | MLB Highlights

The Royals are starting to feel themselves again offensively. It’s so important to support that great pitching staff and it’s starting to happen and it’s exciting. Let’s see him go and get another series. That’s the importance against a starstudded Atlanta Braves team that is 16 games under 500 for the first time since 2017. And they arrive at Kaufman Stadium having lost five in a row. and they will face Rich Hill. And in his long career, this will be his 12th appearance against the Braves. In his Royals debut, he had a scoreless first inning at Wrigley Field, but then gave up a couple of unearned runs in the second inning. The Royals made two errors. He’s a competitor. He’s emotional. You can see him. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, but he can eat up five, six innings again. That would be a beautiful thing. Dan, the pitch up and away is swung on and miss. Well, profile begins the game by striking out. Soap bubble curveball from Rich Hill. And now he faces a man whom he’s had lots of success against in his career. Called third strike on the corner. And backto- back strikeouts. And up comes Akunia. Ronald hitting 305. And that’s going to drop. A soft single out into center here. First hit of the series for the Atlanta Braves belongs to Ronald Akuna Jr. Ronald to Kuna with a two-out signal to keep the first inning alive and the Braves have number 13 aboard. The inning will continue now for Austin Riley. Kuna went on first movement. Vinnie’s throw is going to be in time and Rich Hill faces only three batters in the top of the first inning. One hit, nobody left. We go to the bottom of the first. Strider, 26 years old, 6 feet tall, 195 lbs. The righty from Knoxville, Tennessee, and making his 14th start of the season. He’s gone four and eight with a 372 erra. Jonathan India will lead things off with that long hair. Line to right field and down for a hit. So India has a group single to right. So a couple of flyyous that’ll bring Michael Garcia to the plate. He’s the DH tonight. Michael Garcia hits it into deep right center field and his cousin won’t quite get there. Here comes Jonathan India around third and the Royals lead one- nothing in the first. So Mike El Garcia got a pitch up and away and he rammed it in the gap in right center right between Harris and Akunia. So India scores all the way from first and the Royals grab a one to nothing advantage. That brings Salvador Perez up to the plate. line base hit and now Aunia comes up throwing but Garcia is going to score and the Royals lead two nothing in the first inning. Salby with his 100th hit of the year drives in his 63rd run. And there’s nobody with a bigger smile right now than Mike El Garcia who doubled past his cousin and now scores on his cousin’s arm in right field. back-to- back walks with two out and Michael Harris, the Atlanta outfielder, their center fielder, stands in hitting .228. So, two on, two out and he hits it on the ground to India. And over to first and that takes care of that. So, two walks but no damage. We go to the bottom of the second and this has become a long inning for Strider. He got a ground out and a strikeout on three pitches. And now back-to- back walks. And here comes pitching coach Rick Cranets making sure that Strider pulls it together before he faces Bobby Wit Jr. Yes, that one is in there and he freezes Bobby Wit Jr. to get out of the second inning. They go scoreless in the bottom of the second. We go to the top of the third. Two nothing Kansas City. That’s two out walk. Third walk allowed by Hill. Inning continues for Ronald Akunia. Now Ronald is not one to get one up. We were telling you earlier that his cousin Michael Garcia is the designated hitter for the Royals. Well, Akuna started the family affair tonight with a single in the first inning. Then his cousin came up in the bottom of the first inning, roped an RBI double past Akunia to the wall in right center. And then one batter later, Salvador Perez got a base hit to right field and Garcia tested the arm of his cousin and slid in just ahead of the throw out of right field and then popped up out of his slide and waved out there to his cousin in right field. So you know Ronald wants to put one out there in the seats tie the game up. Ronald Dunia lifts it high and deep to left center. Joe Long, a tworun bomb for the Braves right fielder to tie this game in the third. 468 ft as that ball took a bath in the Kansas City Fountain. There aren’t too many hit in the fountain, but he got great extension and it was a no doubter. Well, you said he wasn’t going to be one uped. Had a feeling about that one. I don’t know he did it that far. That is a huge extra 90 ft in a two- two tie. 27th and 28th double now. And back to back at bats for Mike Kell looking at his cousin saying, “Yeah, let me see you do that.” So he’s into scoring position now with one out inside hit Salvi. That got him on the left elbow, maybe right on the pad or just below it. Salvi is clearly in some pain about halfway up the first baseline. He’s immediately met by Matt Quero and trainer Chris Delucha. Salvi’s now walking to first base and strapping off the shin guard. Didn’t need that this time to the plate. Frasier to right. Akuna over. Hustling. He gets to it. Tagging at second. Garcia. We’ve seen this before. Garcia though he slides. So there are the corners. Two down. Randall Gritick the batter. Check swing, slow roller out to short. Allen gathers, triggers to second. They get the incoming Perez. And the Royals are denied in the bottom of the third inning. They get a double and a hit batter, but nothing beyond that. We go to the top of the fourth inning, tied at two. One on, one gone for Marcelo Zuna. And lots of speculation about Marcelo Zuna leading up to the trade deadline. And it seems that everywhere we go, teams are asking us, okay, when you guys going to trade Ozuna? Who’s he going to go to? Marcelo Zuna lifts it in the air to left center field. Keep going. Get out of here. Yes, a big fly for the big bear and Atlanta is on top here in the fourth inning. Four to two. Well, I was just going to say, Ben, if if he does get traded, he needs to have a good week. He needs to finish up before the deadline, showing teams that he’s still got some pop in his bet. And with that, you get a better prospect in return or a better trade value in return. Salvi took one to the elbow from Spencer Strider. Okay. Looked like it hurt him a lot. Hit him on his pad. Wouldn’t Wouldn’t uh one of those little mosquito bites that that hurt. So, the captain’s been replaced now by the firm dog. Ready for me. Good little groove that Spencer’s gotten into. He had that really bumpy ride in the first inning giving up two runs and then he walked two men in the second. And there was the visit to the mound by Rick Granite. Since then, he gave up a double in the third, hit a batter, but he’s been able to get a little bit more comfortable getting ahead more and not a whole lot of hard contact against him. How bad does Akunia want to make this play? Well, he’ll short hop it and fire it to second knowing that Garcia has already turned a single into a double and he’s on with two outs and that’s his third hit. Freddy Fine came in to do the catching for the Royals last inning, replacing Perez and he gets his first at bat. Strider one, two with a runner going, struck him out. Finally gets him with a slider and the fact that Murphy threw it into center field doesn’t matter. No runs a hit and one left. We go to the sixth. Braves still up four to two. Braves have something cooking here with one out. First and second and the batter will be Nick Allen. Allen golfs it into shallow left field down the line. Melendez sprints in, leans out, dives, makes the catch. No, it pops out of his glove. He recovers, throws to third. Frasier picks it, and the runner’s out. Ozuna had to wait between second and third to see if Melendez would make the catch when the ball wound up on the grass. Ozuna took off for third, but Melendez recovered quickly. He threw a dart to Frasier that actually went in on a hop and Frasier made a great backhand pick to secure the force out. Isbell waits in left center field. So, a couple of more walks from Royals pitching, but neither come back to bite. It’s a scoreless sixth combined for Taylor Clark and Sam Long. No runs, no hits, no errors. Two left for the Braves. So, backto back infield singles. Unfortunately, that’s going to be the end of the night for Strider. Pierce Johnson comes on to face MJ Melendez with two on and nobody out. And he swings and pops one up. Shallow left center. Profar waves off Harris. He makes the catch and gets it in quickly. And the runners have to hold it first and second. 02 to Isbel. He struck him out. Curveball down and in. Three pitch strike out of the number nine hitter. And the runners are still at first and second with two out. Two-1 pitch bounced towards second. Azie had to go way to his left to get it. He gloves, throws, got him. Inning over and a great job by Pierce Johnson. inherited runners at first and second. Nobody out and nobody moved. We go to the seventh. Braves up four to2. That retires Akuna to gone. Austin Riley lifts this to right center field. How far is that one going to go far enough? It’s another homer. Third of the night for Atlanta. 5-2 Braves here in the seventh. Austin Riley strikes one out and that is his first home run since coming back from the injured list. in fact since his first hit. It has been a tough night for Royals pitching. They’ve walked 10. They’ve only given up four hits, but three of them have been home runs. Meanwhile, the Royals offense has two runs on seven hits. The Royals are just one for seven with runners in scoring position, and they’ve stranded eight on base. That’s going to be fair. pass Riley and down into the corner and Bobby will stop at second base with his major league leading 35th double. He has been a doubles machine this season. Royals down five to2 bottom of the seventh. Runner on second with nobody out. Pass Quintino rips it to right field. Akuna ranges back, looks up. It’s over his head and bounces off the fence halfway up. Win rounds third. He’s in to score easily. The Royals get a run back. It’s now 5 to3 in the bottom of the seventh. And the Braves have him at the corners here as they try to add on in the eighth. So now the bat in the hands of Matt Olsen the other way. That is fair. It’s going to produce a run, maybe two. Now just one profile is going to stop at third, but Matt Olsen with an RBI double. Atlanta six, Kansas City three. They’re going to walk Ronald and they’ll take their chances with Austin Riley and the bases loaded. Riley left center. Here we go. Circle the bases. Two are in. Rattles around third. It’s a bases clearing double for Austin Riley. And the Braves have opened it up in the eighth. Absolutely sucked by Austin Riley. And it’s a four RBI night for Austin. A fourrun eight for the Braves on top 93. Randall Gritic infield single his last time up. Randall Gritic hits one into very deep left field. He has his first home run as a Royal. And it’s 94. We were telling you yesterday how well he does against left-handed pitching. There you have it. Good piece of hitting by Nick Allen. One out double back to the top of the order to Jerksen Proofar. Braves leading 94. We’re in the top of the ninth inning and looking for a game one win. Oh, on to Proofar. Bouncer off the mound and that’s going to car him into center field. That’ll drive an Allen. Make it 104 Braves on the ball shot up the middle right off the mound by Profar. Raphael Montero will come on and finish things up for the Braves in the ninth inning. He’s given up runs in each of his last two outings including at Texas couple of days ago. four runs in an inning and a third. So, he’ll like to get back on the right track with a good outing tonight. Well, base is loaded, nobody out. A double and two walks. Freddy Fine, the batter. Grounded into right field. Junior scores. Vinnie scores. It is 106 and it has become a save situation. And Brian Snicker is going to go ahead and call on Rice Cell Glacius here to try to stop the bleeding in the bottom of the ninth. Frasier fly ball to left. Profar to his right to make the catch. Runner coming home and the throw home is not nearly in time and off line and it’s 10 to seven. Lines it to right. Two down here in the bottom of the ninth. So now the Royals down to their final out. MJ Melendez is the batter. He has to reach base to bring the tying run to the plate. Out to center. This should do it. Harris camps. Harris takes. Braves win. 10 to7 the final in game one of the series in Kansas City. And they did it with three homers as Akuna, Riley, and Ozuna all go deep. And a big night for Riley altogether. Four RBI’s for the Braves third baseman.

Braves vs. Royals full game highlights from 7/28/25, presented by @USNavy

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