Ozzie Albies crushed a solo home run in the eighth inning to break a tie and lift the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 win over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Monday in the opener of their three-game series.
With two outs, Albies hammered a fastball from Shelby Miller (4-5) into the right field stands. The homer, his fifth, was measured at 407 feet and ended an 0-for-15 drought for Albies.
The home run was the 10th for Atlanta over the last four games. The Braves have won four of their last five.
The winning pitcher was Daysbel Hernandez (1-0), who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett earlier in the day. With closer Raisel Iglesias unavailable, set-up man Joe Jimenez worked a scoreless ninth inning and earned his first save.
Both starting pitchers were sharp but neither received a decision.
Detroit’s Reese Olson pitched six scoreless innings, allowing four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. The start marked a turnaround for Olson, who had allowed 18 runs in his previous three starts (14 2/3 innings), all losses.
Atlanta’s Max Fried pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits, three walks and six strikeouts. He left after throwing 103 pitches.
The Tigers loaded the bases but couldn’t score in the fourth inning, but they broke through in the sixth on Riley Greene’s RBI single to right field that scored Andy Ibanez.
The Braves tied the game in the seventh off reliever Will Vest. Austin Riley doubled, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a single by Forrest Wall, who had also been recalled from Triple-A earlier in the day.
The Tigers had runners on first and second with one out in the eighth inning against Hernandez, who was recalled when Hurston Waldrep was placed on the injured list. But Hernandez came back to fan Gio Urshela and Akil Baddoo and end the threat.
–Field Level Media