ATLANTA — The Detroit Tigers are the ninth MLB team to reach 40 losses in the 2024 season.

Left-hander Tarik Skubal, the ace of the starting rotation who has been the frontrunner to win the American League Cy Young Award, couldn't save the Tigers in Wednesday's 7-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park.

"Today wasn't a good day for me," Skubal said.

With their fourth loss in a row, the Tigers (34-40) — swept by the Braves in three games while scoring two runs across 27 innings in the series — have fallen six games under .500, 12 games back of first place in the AL Central and seven games back of the final spot in the AL wild card.

They're 29-40 since their 5-0 start to the season.

"The approaches are fine," manager A.J. Hinch said of the Tigers' offense, which has totaled three runs during the four-game skid. "I think the execution is hard. Right now, we're not in a good place. When that piles on you a little bit, even though you try to separate time after time, it's good that we're getting an off day. It's time to go home. Obviously, not a great trip here."

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Skubal had his worst start of the season, allowing five runs (four earned runs) on seven hits and two walks (plus two hit by pitches) with seven strikeouts across four innings, throwing 83 pitches.

He surrendered one home run apiece in the third and fourth innings.

His ERA went from 2.20 to 2.50 after his 15th start. He has surrendered eight of his 25 earned runs this season in his past two starts, ballooning his ERA from 1.92 in the past two starts.

"It just wasn't a good day," Hinch said. "He didn't say a ton in the dugout. They hit a couple changeups, which changed his pitch selection a little bit, and when he tried to drive the fastball in, he hit a couple guys. He was off today."

The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI single from Ozzie Albies on a middle-middle curveball, then extended the lead to 3-0 in the third inning with Sean Murphy's two-run home run off Skubal's changeup with two strikes and two outs.

Murphy pushed Skubal's middle-away changeup over the wall in right-center field for a 407-foot home run.

Ramón Laureano jumped Skubal's first pitch in the fourth inning — a middle-in fastball — for a 426-foot solo home run to left-center field, making it 4-0.

It was Laureano's second homer in his 80th at-bat this season.

The Braves increased their margin to 5-0 later in the fourth inning after Skubal plunked Albies, walked Marcell Ozuna and threw the ball away when Albies tried to steal third.

Skubal — immediately following a mound visit from pitching coach Chris Fetter — threw the ball past third baseman Gio Urshela, allowing Albies to score on the throwing error.

"That was my fault," Skubal said. "I threw the ball away. I probably should've held it and just ate it. In the moment, you try to make a play, and looking back, I probably shouldn't have even thrown the baseball. He's probably going to be safe either way."

After that, Skubal struck out Matt Olson with a 98.1 mph fastball and Austin Riley with an 88.4 mph changeup to end his outing.

He generated 19 whiffs on 46 swings — a 41.3% whiff rate — with five fastballs, seven changeups, six sliders and one sinker, but when the Braves made contact with Skubal's elite changeup, they hit the ball hard for three of their seven hits against him.

Skubal threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of 23 batters.

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Nothing from offense

The Tigers had eight hits and one walk.

All eight hits were singles.

Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez — whom Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos signed as a reliever and turned into a dominant starter — tossed five scoreless innings on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts, throwing 93 pitches.

Lopez has a 1.57 ERA in 13 starts.

"He overpowered us," Hinch said, "and then he'll change pace. He's very athletic, so his delivery will change a little bit. He'll be quick, he'll be slow. We would get a couple guys on base, and then he'd reach back and get 97-98 (mph). He's been doing that the entire year, and we saw it in person."

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Facing Lopez, the Tigers had one runner in the first inning, two runners in the second, one runner in the third, two runners in the fourth and two runners in the fifth.

Jake Rogers stranded two runners in the second with a swinging strikeout; Akil Baddoo stranded two runners in the fourth with a lineout; Mark Canha stranded two runners in the fifth with a called-third strikeout.

"He was throwing strikes," said Riley Greene, who went 1-for-3 with one strikeout. "He was throwing strikes and his heater was good. In my opinion, that's what made him effective."

The Tigers finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Englert rocked, too

Right-handed reliever Mason Englert, a Rule 5 draft pick last season, replaced Skubal for the fifth inning.

Adam Duvall — the first batter Englert faced in his earlier-than-expected relief appearance — hit an infield single, advanced to second base on a throwing error by shortstop Zach McKinstry and moved up to third base on a wild pitch.

Then, Murphy smoked Englert's middle-middle sinker for a 423-foot two-run home run to left-center field. The Braves grabbed a 7-0 lead with the completion of Murphy's fourth two-homer game in his 454-game career.

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Englert settled down after the home run.

He allowed two runs on five hits with zero walks and three strikeouts across three innings, throwing 53 pitches. Left-handed reliever Joey Wentz kept the Braves from adding to their seven-run lead with a scoreless eighth inning.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers swept by Atlanta Braves after 7-0 loss in series finale