In the top of the first inning, some mild baseball stuff happened, but also Rex Hudler shared that he just learned the word “contrarian” after hearing someone describe manager Ned Yost that way. Whit Merrifield led things off with a 13th-pitch battle that ended in a double. He would later score on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Dozier, and the Royals held a lead of varying sizes for the rest of the game.
Leading off the top of the 3rd for Atlanta was not starting center fielder Ronald Acuña, Jr. but former Royal Billy Hamilton in his stead.