Martin Pérez takes the mound as Atlanta Braves begin series vs Detroit Tigers

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - APRIL 22, 2026: Martin Perez #33 of the Atlanta Braves throws a pitch during the fourth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 22, 2026 in Washington, District of Columbia. The Braves beat the Nationals, 8-6. (Photo by Diamond

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The Atlanta Braves will be taking on the Detroit Tigers as two first place teams will clash. The Braves’ offense, who currently lead MLB in runs scored per game, is going to have arguably their toughest test yet as they will be facing a Tigers’ rotation that has been one of the best in MLB thus far.

This evening the Braves will be bringing Martin Pérez to the mound to face the Tigers’ offense that currently sits right in the middle of the pack at fifteenth in MLB in runs scored per game. Pérez has

had an interesting run with the Braves, having signed a minors deal before making the squad originally, and then was DFA’d and re-signed already. The interesting part is that even though he has taken that journey, his on-field ERA shows he has been successful. In his 23.1 innings pitched, he holds an ERA of 2.70.

The issue with Pérez has not been with his actual run prevention, but that his underlying metrics show that at some point his is going to have serious regression to the mean with an expected ERA (xERA) of 4.60. Of course, the Braves last year would have loved a fifth starter with a 4.60 ERA compared to what they had, but still, it is not ideal.

Pérez has been fortunate in his left on base percentage this season. League average typically sits around 70.0 to 74.0 percent. He has had a strand rate of 85.9, which is well above the league average and his career average. Odds are he won’t be able to sustain that. He also has been extremely lucky in terms of BABIP. His career average is .305 BABIP against him and this season he is sitting at .197. Factor in the strand rate as well and it is a recipe for his ERA to balloon at some point soon. Hopefully, it will hold off tonight. Even better if it holds off until his injured rotation mates can heal up.

With Pérez spending time in the AL Central, some of the current Tigers players have faced him quite a bit. Javy Báez has twenty at-bats but has been limited to an OPS of .588. Spencer Torkelson has a .606 OPS in twenty-one at-bats, and Matt Vierling has a paltry .343 OPS in fourteen at-bats. The player to be worried about is Gleyber Torres. He leads the team with twenty-two at-bats and has hit three HRs in the time, leading to an OPS of 1.087. No other player has faced Pérez more than nine at-bats.

Former first overall pick out of Auburn University Casey Mize will take the mound for the Tigers. It took Mize awhile to get his footing in MLB, but he is on pace to have his best season since his 2020 debut. He currently has a 2.51 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 1.151 WHIP, and is striking out 10.0 batters per nine innings to only 3.1 walks. Like Pérez, his underlying metrics show that he has had some fortune go his way, but his xERA of 3.22 suggests that odds are that he will continue to be very good if he can continue to pitch like he currently is.

With Mize spending his entire career with the Tigers, none of the Braves have faced him much. Olson leads the team with six at-bats. Olson has made good in those at-bats with a .500 average, one HR, and a 1.625 OPS, but it is a small sample. Maybe this evening is when Mike Yastrzemski can get things going since he is two for three against Mize in his career.

The key to this game will likely be if the Braves can break through to the Tigers’ bullpen early. With an ERA of 4.36, there are only ten teams with a worse bullpen ERA than Detroit.

The first pitch is at 7:15 EDT in Atlanta, GA.