Jensen checks off 1st HR of '26 to balance all-around game

ATLANTA -- Carter Jensen flashed the kind of power he could bring to this Royals team with his three homers last September in his first taste of the big leagues.

This year, the Royals are expecting much bigger and better things from their rookie catcher and No. 1 prospect, relying on him in the lineup and behind the plate. Jensen, ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 16 overall prospect, showed why on Sunday, when he sent a fastball over the right-field fence at Truist Park for his first home run of the 2026 season.

It was the first of a few clutch hits the Royals finally saw come their way in their 4-1 win over the Braves, salvaging the opening series with the first win of ‘26 before their opening homestand starting on Monday against the Twins at Kauffman Stadium.

“Homer, hit, win, game behind the plate, RBI,” Jensen said, listing all the season firsts he checked off on Sunday. “It feels great. I think the biggest thing was just not letting last night affect how we came to the field today. We talked in Spring Training -- ups and downs are going to happen. Just making sure that we stay levelheaded and not let the past affect the present. Everybody did their part today.”

Bobby Witt Jr. got Kansas City on the board in the third with the club’s first hit with runners in scoring position this year, while Vinnie Pasquantino came through in the fifth with a big two-out RBI single.

After being rung up on a backfoot slider from Atlanta starter Grant Holmes in the second inning, Jensen made some adjustments in his second at-bat in the fourth inning, fouling off a low curveball and not chasing the next three pitches outside of the zone.

“He got me looking on the first at-bat, made a good pitch on the outside,” Jensen said. “Froze me a little bit. I knew coming into the next at-bat that I had to get my pitch. Not chase. Try to shrink the zone a little bit. ... I had to show him that I’m not going to swing at pitches outside of the zone. He’s going to have to come to me.”

When Holmes had to get back in the strike zone with a 3-1 fastball, Jensen pounced on it -- and drove it a Statcast-projected 371 feet, with the ball bouncing off the top of the wall for a home run.

It was the Royals’ second home run of the season, and both have come from their catching tandem. Salvador Perez gave Kansas City its first run of the 2026 season in the seventh inning Saturday night for his 304th career home run. Jensen’s dinger on Sunday was just his fourth career home run.

The Royals will take every single one of them.

“[Jensen] has been great,” Witt said. “Just the way he approaches his game, the way he approaches getting the pitcher ready, getting his swing right. The work he put in the offseason to prepare for this season is amazing. Shows why the preparation is huge for a kid that age -- it’s special.”

Jensen also hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to add to the Royals’ lead while also guiding their pitching staff as it shut down the Braves. Starter Seth Lugo shoved for 6 1/3 scoreless innings, looking like vintage Lugo with all nine of his pitches, walking none and striking out three.

On the heels of Carlos Estévez’s ninth-inning collapse Saturday, the Royals’ bullpen looked much better on Sunday. Matt Strahm needed just four pitches to record two outs and get Lugo out of the seventh unscathed, John Schreiber allowed a run in the eighth, then Lucas Erceg -- the name we might continue to see in those situations as Estévez works through his command and velocity issues -- notched the save in the ninth.