Tigers vs. Braves Game Highlights (4-30-26) - MLB Highlights

This is the final game of three versus the Tigers. Atlanta looks for their second sweep of the year. This is one of their pitching matchups on the day around Major League Baseball. Trevor Valdez making his seventh start of the year, 2-1 with a 3-4-1. You're a big offseason sign for the Tigers. And Bryce Elder, 3-1 with a 1-9-5. Opponents hitting under 200. Bryce Elder has been great, was great last time out against Philly as well. The ups, the downs, all-star two years ago, spending time in AAA struggling. And here he is, you know, really with Chris Sale been two aces of this rotation. Kevin McGonigal today is going for a hit streak of 14 straight. He would be the first Tiger, 21 or younger, to do that since Al Kaline. A swing and a high pop-up to the outfield. Shallow. Dubon and White will converge. Dubon, the left fielder, makes the catch. Eight-pitch battle. But Kevin McGonigal's soft fly ball to left to start things off. So a two-out single by Keith. And now the walk by Green. There are two on for Spencer Torkelson who bats fifth today. Torkelson with a high fly ball to right. Ronald Acuna over to his left, looking up into the brilliant sky. He's under it, makes the catch. And that's that for the Tigers in the top of the first inning. No runs a hit. A walk, two men left. We go to the bottom of the first inning. Framber Valdez, who Bobby has seen some more traffic on the bases than he's used to in his career generally. But he's, for the most part, pitched around it. And the Braves have runners at first and second for last night's hero, Matt Olsen. Braves looking for early runs. And unless you're living in Siberian Calcutta, you know all about what Matt Olsen did last night. Matt with a walk-off homer last night and a sudden victory for the Braves. They've been trailing most of the game. Ground ball, fair ball, first base. Torkelson takes it to the bag. And there are two down. Baldwin to third. Albies to second. But he did create the contact he wanted there. The 0-2 swing and a miss. Changeup was up. Austin Roddy swung right through it. Couple of singles and a bounce-out put two in scoring position. Austin Roddy strikes out. We head to the second inning. Each team strands two in the first. Bryce Elder had one walk in the first inning. Gave up a single. Stranded those runners at first and second. And he blew it by him. Swung on miss at a fastball up and away from the left-handed hitter. Usually that ball's down. Sometimes he can get it up like that. And against a guy like Carpenter, that's where you want to go to get that strike three. That is in there. Oh, yeah, he challenged it. That's a great challenge. That is going to be strike three. And no question about it. Yikes. It is the reason for the challenge system. I was thinking that that was going to be strike three when it came across. That's about as middle-of-the-middle as you get. That's the perfect example of why framing matters. One-two and a fly ball towards medium-depth center field. Eli White going to trot in. And in his track stops. Makes the catch. And that's that for the Tigers in the second. It's a one-two-three second inning. We go to the bottom of the inning. No score. Bottom of the second as Mauricio Dubon leads off. That one hits him. Curveball gets away from Valdez. So, guys that were teammates in Houston. I was going to say, Dubon just looked at him and I'm sure Valdez is saying, if I wanted to hit you, I'd have kept 96. Look at him laughing. Those guys know each other very well from their last four seasons together there with the Houston Astros. And Valdez not very happy with himself. And through the right side. He saw that hole with Torres playing up the middle. Farber takes advantage. Two on, nobody out. Good piece of hitting by the 35-year-old veteran. No score. Bottom of the second. Runners at first and second for Eli White. White rips it out to left center. Dubon is being waved home. No throw. Ruby Eyes single. It's a Braves lead first once again. And now the top of the order is coming. Yeah, you're trying to get that ground ball. Farber threw that changeup. Just got it right in the middle of the plate. White does a nice job of not getting ahead of himself. That sinkers up. That's the one you want right there. But hit by pitch. Two singles here. And the ninth spot of the order. Eli White getting that start today for Harrison Center. And he makes Valdez pay. And now Acuna. Three and two to Acuna. And he swings through strike three. As he limps back to the dugout when he did not limp to first base. That's right. When he allegedly got hit by a baseball. We all have a friend who's done that. A hundred percent. In a pickup game. I may or may not have done that myself. Swing and a miss. Got him with a fastball foul tipped to the glove of the catcher Jake Rogers. Baldwin strikes out. And a big, great, big bounce back by Frambois Valdez. We go to the bottom of the third inning. Ozzie Albies leads off versus Frambois Valdez. He is going to be two for two if that stays fair. It does. Takes a friendly kick for Ozzie. Stand up double. Amazing from this side of the plate. How many balls he just fouled off. Weren't even great pitches. Look at this ball. And home sit, home plate. That's as bad and ugly as a swing as you are going to see a major league baseball player take. But sometimes guys are just bad swing barrel guys. Ozzie Albies more often than not figures out a way to put the barrel on the baseball. And that swing on a pitch down was about six inches from the dirt resulting in a double. Swing and a miss on a slider. Frambois has the first out in this third inning. That pitch did not work. Changeup slipped out of his hand and Ozzie gets to third base. That was a gift. His foot slipped. Turn around looking at the mound. Tried to hold up. That is strike three. He's going to bolt to first. A slow motion chase continues. And Riley is out. Albies still at third. Yeah, good job by Frambois Valdez. Two down, two huge strikeouts in each of the last two innings for Frambois. And I need a clutch hit with two down. Here comes Dubon. Liner for Mauricio Dubon off his old teammate Frambois Valdez to make it two to nothing. Let me tell you how big that is. You want to talk about just a killer for a guy like Valdez who's kind of a workhorse ace. Two strikeout Olsen. Strikeout Riley. You give up that two out RBI, man. It is tough. And then Farmer grounds out. But the Braves double their lead. Two up, two down fifth inning. Just three singles so far. Keith Torres and Torkelson. Ronald Acuna sprints toward the line. He's not going to get to this. He will fire a dart to second. Who was hoping to stretch it into a double. Him and Torres are good buddies. He's looking at him going, why in the world would you go? And they're not going to challenge. They will not. Ronald with another victim on a one off throw to second. And he guns down Torres. One out walk here in the sixth inning. That brings a potential tying run to the plate in the form of Spencer Torkelson. And Toric laces that into left. It's a base hit. His second to left field. And the Tigers yet again have two on. Two on, two out in the first. Two on, one out in the third. Torres strikes him out with 93 at the top of the zone. And I'm thinking Cutter in. And then he rode that ball up and away with the four seamer. And you see the velocity and where that is. You're going to get most of your swing and miss right there. Veerling took a called third in the second inning. Veerling in the air right field. That's falling quickly. It is down for a base hit. Acuna is up with it. His laser is late. Riley Green is home. And the Tigers are on the board. It is two to one on a Matt Veerling RBI single. Yeah, good job by Matt Veerling right here. Didn't hit it hard, but he got to the inside of that sinker. Pretty good action on this pitch from Elder. And he just sliced it. Sliced it over to Ronald Acuna and Wright. You better keep rolling when he's got the ball in his right hand. So now two to one. Howie Lee is the hitter. A one check swing. A little tapper in front of the plate. It's a fair ball. Drake's on it. Throws down to first base. And that's in time for the out. What was the exit velocity? About three. That ends the inning. But a run for the Tigers on two hits. Two up, two down. Sixth inning. That's nine in a row retired by Frambois Valdez. Soft ground ball to third. Howie Lee charges. Fields near the bag. Flips it from the grass over to Tork. Whoa, that's a good stretch by Tork to his left. Makes the catch. A one, two, three. Sixth inning. If that's the end of the day for Frambois Valdez. And it likely is. He finishes by retiring the last ten in order and easily. So Payam stepping into a high leverage role. He'll be facing six, seven, eight in this Tigers order. Center field. Eli White is back at the track. It's all. He's off the wall as well. Into second. He motors into third. He gets there. The ball gets away. It's a triple and a big crash into the wall for Eli White. And Kerry Carpenter as the Tigers in business in the eighth. Now Matt Bierling to the plate. To third. That's fair. Matt Bierling drives home the tying run. He's on his way to second base. And the Tigers conjure up a rally in just a couple of pitches. Matt Bierling wasn't waiting around. He gets this sweeper and it didn't sweep. High hop and it just beats Austin Riley over. Bounce over third base. We got a tie ball game, Jason. Out of nowhere. Four pitches in the inning. One run. And now you've got Bummer coming on here to face McGonigal. We're bringing a lefty to face a lefty. And it's like he didn't even want to pitch to him. Torres at the plate. Base is loaded. One out. This is the guy that you want up there in this situation. That's going to give you that quality at bat. Fly ball center field. Eli White is underneath. He makes the catch. Here comes Bierling. Matt scores headlong. And the Tigers have taken the lead here in the eighth. Sacrifice fly for Glaber Torres. Knows how to get that runner home from third with less than two outs. Tigers take a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Isn't that a nice job by Glaber Torres? Just situational hitting. Not trying to do too much. That's professional hitting from Glaber Torres. Matt Bierling with really good swings in his last three at bat. See if he can put it together another one. Maybe play another run. To third. And a scalding shot past Riley into left field. And a bobble in by Yastrzemski. Start Perez around third. Here's the throw. Tigers press the issue and pick up insurance here at Atlanta. It's 4-2. And a disastrous sequence for Atlanta. Gives the Tigers a 4-2 lead. Tough ball for Riley obviously. And then Yastrzemski kind of overruns. Dylan Dingler stepping to the plate. He entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. He's got a chance to widen this two-run lead. Left field arching toward the line. That's there. Comes through. Bierling's home. Tigers do get run number five. Tigers settle for one on a sizzling line drive double from Dylan Dingler. Kyle Finnegan is on looking to close this game here in Atlanta. Two down here in the ninth inning. Now the hands of Ronald Acuna. Got to get him aboard and bring the tying run to the plate at that point. Yes, sir. Strike three. Challenge, why not? But it looks like strike three. Yeah, it looks like that's a good pitch right there. Tigers will go home with a victory here in Atlanta. Tigers storm back to win five to two.