Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna each hit a two-run homer, Austin Riley homered and drove in four, and the visiting Atlanta Braves emerged with a 10-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday.
The Royals tied a franchise record by issuing 14 walks, a mark reached four times previously. The Braves’ offense matched its best-ever walk total, equally a record achieved twice before.
Riley broke things open with a three-run double in the eighth for the Braves, who snapped a five-game losing streak. Atlanta’s Spencer Strider (5-8) allowed two first-inning runs but no more while grinding into the sixth.
Meanwhile, 45-year-old Rich Hill (0-2) walked six and allowed four runs and three hits in four innings during his second start for Kansas City, which had won five of the previous seven.
Kansas City’s Jonathan India opened the first with a single and eventually scored on Maikel Garcia’s two-out double that split the right field gap. Salvador Perez followed with an RBI single.
The Braves tied it in the third. After Hill yielded a two-out walk to Matt Olson, Acuna cleared the fountains over the left field fence. Then in the fourth, another Hill walk eventually set the stage for Ozuna, subject of trade rumors, to go deep for a 4-2 Atlanta edge.
The Braves added on in the seventh when Riley clubbed a two-out solo homer to right off Sam Long. Kansas City got a run back in the bottom of that frame through consecutive doubles by Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino.
Atlanta pulled away against Steven Cruz in the eighth. Olson delivered an RBI double, and after Acuna was intentionally walked, Riley cleared the loaded with his double to left-center for a 9-3 lead.
Randal Grichuk homered in the eighth and Freddy Fermin had a two-RBI single in Kansas City’s three-run ninth. Garcia recorded three hits.
Perez exited prior to the fifth inning after he was hit in the left elbow by a Strider pitch in the third.
Braves ride 3 HRs, 14 walks to victory over Royals
