DETROIT — The Tigers were a strike away from ending their losing streak and regaining their footing in the suddenly hot AL Central race, but Nacho Alvarez Jr.’s game-tying single and Jurickson Profar’s go-ahead single added new drama to Detroit’s late-season struggles. The Braves’ 6-5 win extended the Tigers’ losing streak to five and gave the Guardians, who play a doubleheader in Minnesota Saturday, a chance to potentially close the gap to one game.
Spencer Torkelson’s go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh had not only given the Tigers a 5-3 lead, but seemingly a much-needed spark. Torkelson had talked earlier in the week about the Tigers still having their hunger from last season’s incredible run, but trying to turn it on and sustain it.
Alvarez, who hit his first Major League home run in a three-run third inning off Tigers starter Keider Montero, homered again off Kyle Finnegan in the eighth to draw Atlanta within a run. Will Vest put the tying and go-ahead runs on base with back-to-back singles from Ozzie Albies and Ha-Seong Kim leading off the ninth, but recovered with strikeouts of Michael Harris II and Sandy LeĂłn.
Vest had Alvarez in an 0-2 count and got him to chase a 1-2 heater off the plate. But Alvarez got enough to poke an opposite-field single into right field and scored Albies to tie it. Vest was a strike away from sending a tie game into the bottom of the ninth, but Profar got a 1-2 slider over the plate and sent a ground ball through the right side to score Kim.
Rafael Montero, whom the Tigers acquired from the Braves at the Trade Deadline, stranded the bases loaded to keep the Tigers within a run, but Raisel Iglesias did what Vest could not, tossing a clean ninth inning for the save.
