The Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers will be well rested before starting a three-game interleague series Friday night in Phoenix.
The Diamondbacks had Thursday off after a three-game series win over the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the week.
Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt had his best start of the season, giving up one run and two hits while striking out nine over seven innings. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had the tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning to help Arizona take the series finale Wednesday for its third win in four games.
“He’s got good finish to his pitches,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said of Pfaadt. “He’s on the attack. That was a huge confidence boost for him. Innately, he’s a confident kid. He took a couple haymakers on the chin last year, where he got banged around, go down and figure some things out.
“When he came back that final time in late July, he got a really great feel for his pitches and how to maneuver those pitches through the zone. He’s been on the rise.”
Arizona is slated to start right-hander Ryne Nelson (2-2, 5.33 ERA) on Friday. Nelson has had an up-and-down season, posting 19 strikeouts across six starts and 25 1/3 innings. In his previous start, he surrendered three runs and 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision against Baltimore on May 11.
Nelson was a winner in his only appearance vs. the Tigers. On June 10, 2023, in Detroit, he pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, surrendering four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
The Tigers have struggled at the plate and hope that Nelson won’t match Pfaadt’s quality outing.
Detroit is coming off back-to-back shutout losses to the slumping Miami Marlins. Despite the Marlins having allowed an MLB-worst 250 runs this season going into the second game of the series, the Tigers were unable to build any momentum at the plate.
Thursday’s day off offered a needed reset for the Tigers.
“We’ve been having a hard time being consistent, but then you like those days where we knock out 10 runs or 12 runs or a bunch of hits,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s frustrating when it’s this roller-coaster ride of success and failure. We have to pull ourselves out of it again, because back-to-back games where you don’t score isn’t good enough.
“It’s not that we’re not trying. It’s not that we’re not trying to tweak. It’s about execution, and that’s the hardest thing to do at this level.”
May has been tough for the Tigers, who are 4-9 and haven’t won a series since late April.
After recent quality starts from Reese Olson and Casey Mize, Detroit will turn to left-hander Tarik Skubal (5-0, 2.02) to continue the streak. Skubal has 60 strikeouts and eight walks over 49 innings in his eight starts.
Skubal last pitched on Saturday in an 8-2 win over the visiting Houston Astros. He gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out seven. Skubal has never faced the Diamondbacks.
–Field Level Media