Ha-Seong Kim homered and drove in two runs and the streaking Atlanta Braves handed the reeling Detroit Tigers their sixth straight loss, 6-2, on Sunday.
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Drake Baldwin each had two hits, a run scored and an RBI for the Braves (73-83) in their eighth consecutive win. Spencer Strider (7-13) struck out six in five innings.
Detroit starter Casey Mize (14-6) gave up three runs and five hits and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings. Gleyber Torres had an RBI double but the Tigers (85-71) left 13 runners on base.
Detroit remained one game in front of second-place Cleveland, which lost to Minnesota on Sunday, in the American League Central Division.
The Braves scored a run in the third. Vidal Brujan had a one-out single, advanced on a Matt Olson single and scored on Acuna’s two-out hit to right.
Kim made it 2-0 with his one-out homer over the left-center field wall in the fourth, jumping on a Mize fastball. Detroit had two base runners with no outs in the bottom of the inning but a double play allowed Strider to escape that jam.
Atlanta scored again in the fifth, as Olson drew a walk and scored on Baldwin’s two-out triple to left. Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene had two-out singles in the bottom of the inning but Strider came back to strike out Spencer Torkelson.
The Tigers had two runners on in the sixth with one out. Dylan Lee put out that fire by striking out pinch-hitter Andy Ibanez and retiring Jahmai Jones on a foul pop.
The Braves loaded the bases with two out in the seventh. Tommy Kahnle struck out Marcell Ozuna to keep the score at 3-0.
In the bottom of the eighth, Dillon Dingler singled and moved to third on Zach McKinstry’s two-out double. They were left stranded when pinch-hitter Trey Sweeney popped out.
Atlanta cushioned its lead in the ninth. Acuna and Baldwin drew walks and Ozzie Albies doubled to score Acuna. A Kim sacrifice fly scored Baldwin for a 5-0 lead. Albies came home on Michael Harris’ double.
