Tigers' Skubal sharp, but Jansen allows walk-off homer vs. Braves

The Tigers backed Skubal with a crisply-played defensive game.

Third baseman Colt Keith stopped some early bleeding by Skubal in the first inning, ranging to his left and making a diving stop of a hard ground ball and throwing out Olson.

It came right after Albies had launched a middle-in four-seamer into the seats in left for a two-run homer.

Keith took a double away from Albies with a slick backhand play over the bag at third and strong throw across the diamond in the sixth. He also started two double-plays.

Right-fielder Kerry Carpenter made an exception play in the fourth inning, racing into the gap to cut off another hard-hit ball by Olson leading off the fourth. He hustled the ball in, held Olson to a single and Skubal got Austin Riley to bang into a double-play on the next pitch.

Jace Jung didn’t waste any time showing why he was the choice to come up from Triple-A Toledo and replace the injured Javier Baez.

The Tigers were down 2-0 with two outs in the second inning against Braves’ rookie right-hander JR Ritchie, who was making his second big-league start.

Wenceel Perez, batting left-handed and jammed on a pitch, hit an excuse-me double inside the bag at third base and Jung drew a two-out walk to extend the inning.

It was an extension of Jung’s work at Toledo where he was controlling his at-bats to the tune of a .358 on-base percentage with 22 walks and 28 strikeouts.

He helped set the table for rookie Kevin McGonigle, whose single scored Perez, sent Jung to third and extended his on-base streak to an MLB-best 26 starts. A couple of pitches later he scored on an errant pick-off throw to first.

Riley Greene broke the 2-2 tie in the third inning.

Ritchie struck him out on three pitches in the first inning, punching him swinging through back-to-back changeups. Ritchie stayed with the changeup when Greene came up again in the third. Except Greene made an adjustment.

He scalded the changeup 417 feet to left-center for his fourth home run. The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 106 mph.

Kyle Finnegan, despite a pair of two-out walks, pitched a scoreless eighth.

This story will be updated

Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 29: Tarik Skubal #29 of the Detroit Tigers pitches in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on April 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Atlanta Braves beat Detroit Tigers despite Tarik Skubal's strong start