KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The Royals had reason to feel good about their matchup with the NL East champions entering Wednesday night, having beaten the Atlanta in each of their three games this season.
However, the Braves offense proved potent even with stars Ronald Acuna Jr. and Freddie Freeman sidelined by injuries. The Royals bullpen simply couldn't slow down that offense once it got started.
Royals relievers gave up eight runs as they dropped their fourth and final meeting of the season 10-2 to the Braves in front of 16,931 at Kauffman Stadium. The Braves scored three runs in the top of the sixth, four in the eighth and another in the ninth. They had 14 hits in the game.
Royals infielder Nicky Lopez had two hits, a run scored and an RBI in the loss. Catcher Meibrys Viloria had a double and an RBI.
Lopez had a hand in each of the Royals runs. He tripled into the right-center field gap with two outs in the second and scored on a Viloria RBI double smoked down the first base line. In the fourth inning, Lopez drove in the club's second run on a one-out RBI bunt single with runners on the corners.
Royals starting pitcher Mike Montgomery, who earned an ejection in his previous start last Thursday in Minnesota, went into the fifth inning having already thrown 75 pitches. He allowed two runs in the fifth after he'd retired the first two batters of the inning.
Montgomery allowed two runs on five hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. He left the game tied, 2-2, after having thrown 97 pitches and recorded four strikeouts.
The Braves (97-62) scored three more runs in the sixth inning. Royals relief pitcher Jacob Barnes gave up a single and two walks with one out before being taken out in favor of right-hander Heath Fillmyer.
Fillmyer gave up a two-run single by Dansby Swanson and a sacrifice fly to Ozzie Albies. All three runs were charged to Barnes as the Braves grabbed a 5-2 lead. Swanson enjoyed a four-hit game.
An additional four runs in the eighth pushed the Braves' lead to 9-2. The scoring started on a bases-loaded three-run double off the left-center field wall by Josh Donaldson. Adam Duvall also hit an RBI single. In the ninth, Albies added a two-out RBI single.
The Royals will have a day off on Thursday before they begin a season-ending three-game series with the Minnesota Twins on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium. Royals left-hander Eric Skoglund (0-2, 7.50) will start the opener for the Royals, while the Twins have not announced a starter for Friday.
