Báez, Mize injured in Tigers' 5-2 loss to Braves in opener

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Apr 28, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ATLANTA — There are losses and then there are games like Tuesday night at Truist Park.

The Tigers not only lost the first of a three-game series to the Atlanta Braves, 5-2, they lost two key players to injury.

Starting pitcher Casey Mize strained his right groin and left the game in the bottom of the third inning. Center fielder Javier Báez was carted off the field in the top of fifth after making an awkward slide into first base.

Mize, pitching in front of some 40 friends and family members, struck out three in the first two innings. But in the second inning, television cameras caught him grimacing after a couple of pitches.

He came back out in the third inning and gave up back-to-back doubles. Mike Yastrzemski dropped one on the right-field chalk and Ronald Acuna, Jr., dropped one on the left-field line.

Mize got Drake Baldwin to tap one back to him, but he came up gingerly after making the throw to first.

He came out of the game without even attempting a practice pitch.

After Hao-Yu Lee doubled to lead off the fifth inning, Báez hit a ground ball to shortstop. Mauricio Dubon’s throw was high, pulling first baseman Matt Olson off the bag. Báez tried to avoid the tag by sliding.

It appeared his left foot hit the bag hard and, when his body rolled, his right ankle or foot got caught up underneath him.

He was unable to put pressure on his right ankle/foot. There was no immediate update on the exact nature of the injury.

Lefty reliever Brant Hurter got the cold call and was brilliant. He pitched 2 2/3 perfect innings.

The Braves, after scoring twice in the third, tacked on a two-out run off righty reliever Burch Smith in the seventh. Dubon doubled and Yastrzemski singled him home.

Ozzie Albies slugged a two-run homer off lefty Tyler Holton in the bottom of the eighth to cap the scoring.

The Tigers (15-15) couldn’t get anything going against a pair of Braves lefties. Veteran starter Martin Perez blanked the Tigers on two hits over five innings. He induced six ground-ball outs.

The Tigers worked him for four walks but couldn’t cash in any of them.

The closest they came to scoring against Perez was in that fifth inning. With Lee on second, Gleyber Torres walked and Kevin McGonigle slammed a ball 353 feet to right field, which Acuna caught with his back against the wall.

After toiling against the crafty Perez, the Tigers next faced lefty reliever Didier Fuentes and his 98-mph power game. He pitched two scoreless and hitless innings, getting the game to the back end of the Braves bullpen.

The Tigers mounted a threat in the eighth against righty Tyler Kinley.

McGonigle legged out an infield single to extend his on-base streak to 25 games, the longest active streak in baseball. With two outs, Dillon Dingler doubled into the left-field corner.

But with runners at second and third, Riley Greene struck out looking on a pitch that barely clipped the outside edge.

The Tigers finally got on the board in the ninth. Wenceel Perez, who entered the game when Baez left, hit a two-run homer to dead center field in the ninth.

The Braves (21-9) are the first team in baseball to win 21 games this season.