Javier Baez drove in five runs and Kerry Carpenter knocked in four as the Detroit Tigers shook off their recent offensive struggles and routed the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-0 on Friday in Phoenix.
The Tigers, coming off back-to-back shutout losses to the visiting Miami Marlins, piled up 17 hits in the opener against Arizona. Rookie Colt Keith collected a career-high four hits while contributing two RBIs and three runs.
Detroit scored at least one run in every inning from the second through the sixth. Six Tigers enjoyed multi-hit performances as the club posted a season-high run total.
Arizona, which managed three hits and no walks, took its first shutout loss since an 8-0 result against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 1.
Tigers starter Tarik Skubal (6-0) pitched six innings of one-hit ball, striking out six and walking none. Will Vest (one inning) and Joey Wentz (two innings) completed the shutout.
Baez, who entered Friday’s game batting .100 (4-for-40) in May, hit an RBI single in the second inning to open the scoring. He followed up with a two-run double as part of Detroit’s six-run fifth and another two-run double in the sixth.
Carpenter produced a two-run triple and a two-run double.
After a scoreless first inning, Arizona starter Ryne Nelson (2-3) struggled. The right-hander gave up eight runs on 11 hits and one walk while striking out four batters in four-plus innings.
The Tigers remained unrelenting when Matt Bowman entered the game, as the Arizona reliever allowed five runs on six hits over two innings.
Arizona had a chance to score in the bottom of the eighth, but it stranded two runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks also left a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth.
Randal Grichuk, Ketel Marte and Jake McCarthy had the Diamondbacks’ lone hits. Marte extended his hitting streak to 16 games in the loss, the longest active streak in the major leagues. However, he is batting just .254 (17-for-67) in that span.
–Field Level Media