Nacho Alvarez Jr. hit the first two homers of his career and drove in three runs as the visiting Atlanta Braves rallied past the reeling Detroit Tigers 6-5 on Saturday afternoon.
Jurickson Profar completed a two-run rally in the ninth with a tiebreaking RBI single as the Braves (72-83) extended their winning streak to seven games. Drake Baldwin hit a two-run homer for Atlanta.
Dylan Dodd (1-0) tossed a scoreless inning in relief to earn the victory. Raisel Iglesias collected his 27th save.
Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer and drove in three for the Tigers (85-70), who have lost eight of their last nine games. Zach McKinstry added a solo shot and Jahmai Jones had three hits and scored two runs.
Detroit starter Keider Montero gave up three runs on two hits and four walks with two strikeouts in three innings. Atlanta starter Joey Wentz allowed two runs, six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in five innings.
Detroit scored in the first on Torkelson’s RBI single.
The Braves took the lead in the third. Alvarez blasted a Montero slider over the left field wall leading off the inning. With two out, Ronald Acuna Jr. drew a walk and scored on Baldwin’s 18th homer.
The Tigers pulled within 3-2 in the bottom of the inning on Wenceel Perez’s sacrifice fly.
McKinstry, pinch hitting for Andy Ibanez, evened the score in the sixth against Hunter Stratton with his 12th homer, an opposite-field shot off a fastball.
Detroit gained a 5-3 lead in the seventh. Jones led off against Dylan Lee with a single. With two down, Torkelson smashed his 31st homer to left on a curveball from Pierce Johnson.
Alvarez notched his second homer leading off the eighth, this time off Kyle Finnegan.
Ozzie Albies and Ha-Seong Kim led off the ninth with singles off Will Vest (6-5). Following two strikeouts, Alvarez knocked in Albies with a game-tying single. Profar then drove in Kim with another single for the go-ahead run.
–Field Level Media
