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Matt Olson's walk-off homer lifts Braves over Tigers

Matt Olson delivered a long two-run walk-off homer in the ninth inning against closer Kenley Jansen to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 4-3 win over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

Ozzie Albies opened the inning with a walk and Olson followed with his ninth homer, a 397-foot shot to right-center field that landed in the Atlanta bullpen.

It was the second straight outing in which Jansen (0-2) has allowed a walk-off homer.

The win extended Atlanta's winning streak over Detroit to nine games.

The winning pitcher was Reynaldo Lopez (2-1), who worked the final two innings of scoreless relief. He allowed no hits and struck out two.

The loss ruined a fine effort from Detroit starter Tarik Skubal, who only allowed a two-run homer to Ozzie Albies in the first inning. Skubal gave up five hits, did not walk a batter and struck out seven.

Skubal appeared to tweak something in his left arm after throwing the first pitch to Olson to lead off the seventh. Manager A.J. Hinch rushed to the mound, all while Skubal was saying, "I'm fine." After a couple of warm-up throws, he was left in the game. Skubal went on to strike out the side, fanning Olson, Austin Riley and Mauricio Dubon.

The Tigers scored twice in the second to tie the game. Wenceel Perez doubled, Jace Jung walked and Kevin McGonigle had an RBI single to center field, which extended his hitting streak to 13 games and his on-base streak to 25 straight when starting.

Jung was able to race home with the tying run when Atlanta starter JR Ritchie threw errantly to first while trying to pick off McGonigle, hitting him in the back.

Detroit took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning on Riley Greene's solo home run, his fourth, a 417-foot shot to straightaway center field.

Ritchie pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits and four walks, striking out four. Dylan Lee followed and struck out four of the five batters he faced in 1 2/3 innings.

This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission.

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