Atlanta 5, Detroit 2: Adding injuries to insult

Q: What injuries did Casey Mize and Javier Báez sustain during the game?

Casey Mize exited the game with right groin tightness, while Javier Báez twisted his right ankle while sliding into first base.

Q: How did the Atlanta Braves perform against the Detroit Tigers on April 28, 2026?

The Braves won the game 5-2, showcasing strong pitching and capitalizing on the Tigers' injuries and offensive struggles.

Q: What was the significance of the Braves' victory over the Tigers?

The victory continued the Braves' strong performance at home, while the Tigers faced setbacks due to injuries to key players.

Q: Who were the standout players in the Braves vs. Tigers game?

Ronald Acuña Jr. and Martín Pérez were notable for the Braves, with Acuña contributing offensively and Pérez delivering a solid pitching performance.

Apr 28, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Detroit Tigers center fielder Javier Baez (28) goes down with an injury against the Atlanta Braves in the fifth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images After a pit-stop on the way down I-75 for three games and some questionable “chili,” the Tigers continued south to visit the red-hot Atlanta ball club for the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night. The Tigers’ bats ran cold, two key players left the game with injuries, and they dropped the opener to the tune of a 5-2 tally. Making his sixth start of the season for the Tigers was Casey Mize, and he’s looked good in his last couple of starts before tonight. Arguably, his April 17 outing in Boston was one of the best of his career: 6 2/3 shutout innings, three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts? By the stat of Game Score — a rough index to try and determine how good a start is — that was a 74, the highest of his career, one above a stellar start in 2021 against the Mariners. (There are some names in *that* box score, eh?) Facing Mize and the Tigers was lefty , making his fourth start (against two relief appearances) for Atlanta this year. He spent nine years in the Rangers’ rotation before bouncing around a little: some time with the Twins, another stint in , and the south side of Chicago last year. He didn’t make Atlanta’s big-league roster out of Spring Training, but was quickly recalled from Triple-A and has had some nice appearances so far. He’ll give you some innings, won’t dominate you too often, generally limits home-run power and, while he used to be an extreme ground-ball pitcher early in his career, has become much less so recently. On the first pitch of the bottom of the first, smacked a double to the wall, but Mize was able to get the next three batters and strand him at third. He then sawed-through the next three batters in the second, including featuring that right-on-right splitter that, earlier in his career, he’d use primarily against lefties alone. Meanwhile, Pérez was pulling the string with his changeup more than a kid with a new Chatty Cathy doll: he struck out both , Kevin McGonigle and (three hitters on heaters lately) with straight change-ups right down the middle. You know what I said about not dominating teams? Well, he had it tonight. Atlanta got on the board first with a pair of doubles to start the bottom of the third inning, by and Acuña to put the home team up 1-0, and let the record show that I spelled Yastrzemski right without looking. The next batter, , hit a dribbler up the first-base line; Mize fielded the ball and tossed underhand to first for the out, and he came up limping, favouring his right leg, and that was it for Mize; it was later reported that he had some “right groin tightness.” , who’s been used as a multi-inning reliever, came on for Mize and gave up a sacrifice-fly liner to score Acuña for a 2-0 lead. managed the first Tiger hit with one out in the fourth, despite getting three on base before that via the base-on-balls. Alas, Dingler was stranded there after flew out and Torkelson struck out. Hao-Yu Lee started the fifth with a double, and Javier Báez hit a grounder to shortstop. The throw to first was high, and Báez figured he could get underneath a tag by sliding into first base — which is *never* a good idea, kids — and ended up twisting his right ankle. He had to be taken off the field on a cart, but if you can have a little hope here, he was seen wiggling and moving his ankle around while on the cart. (I don’t want to have to point this out, but… that belt of Báez looks a little too Zubaz-ish for my liking. IYKYK.) After walked, McGonigle hit a long fly ball to right, but it was caught halfway up the wall for the third out and the threat was extinguished. Pérez, whose pitch count was pushed up by a few long at-bats, was out after five innings and , a young right-hander from Colombia, took over and he had his slider working overtime, scattering a Greene walk harmlessly amid three quick outs. The Tigers struck out less than the Braves in this one, and hit the ball pretty solidly for the most part, but they neglected to hit them where they ain’t. took over for Hurter to start the sixth, facing the heart of the order. He got to strike out swinging, and after walking , he got to ground into an inning-ending double play. Smith carried on into the seventh, and with two outs he gave up a double to , who scored on a Yastrzemski single just over Torres’ glove to make it 3-0. But then Chris Fetter paid Smith a visit, whispered some sweet nothings into Smith’s ear, and he struck out Acuña on three pitches. In the top of the eighth McGonigle singled and Dingler doubled, putting runners on second and third with two outs and bringing Greene to the plate as the tying run. Alas, Greene struck out looking on a pitch that barely nicked the corner of the strike zone, and the inning was over. relieved Smith in the bottom of the eighth, and the Georgians tacked-on a pair of runs but-quick: with one out Olson doubled and Albies smacked a fat changeup over the fence for a 5-0 lead. Torkelson came up first in the ninth inning for one last chance to extend his home run-hitting streak, but he grounded out to third; fun while it lasted. After singled, Wenceel Pérez hit his second home run of the year to get the Tigers on the board, but that would be the final scoring action of the game.