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Detroit Tigers blast through Arizona Diamondbacks, 13-0, to back Tarik Skubal gem
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- Detroit Tigers blast through Arizona Diamondbacks, 13-0, to back Tarik Skubal gem
PHOENIX — The Detroit Tigers snapped a 20-inning scoreless streak in the second inning of Friday's series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks .
And then, the floodgates opened in the desert.
The Tigers, following back-to-back shutouts against the worst team in baseball, exploded for 13 runs on 17 hits in Friday's 13-0 win over the reigning National League champions in the first of three games at Chase Field.
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Of course, the Tigers (22-22) set season highs in hits and runs.
Javier Báez drove in five runs for his first multi-RBI game of the 2024 season (and his first five-RBI game since the 2018 season), rookie Colt Keith recorded the first four-hit game of his MLB career and Kerry Carpenter drove in four runs on a pair of extra-base hits.
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Detroit Tigers second baseman Colt Keith (33) scores a run against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Meanwhile, left-hander Tarik Skubal took a perfect game into the fifth inning. His chance at the history books was spoiled by Randal Grichuk 's double off the wall in center field with one out in the fifth inning, but that was the only batter to reach safely in Skubal's six scoreless innings.
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In 2024, Skubal has a 1.80 ERA across 55 innings over nine starts.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, snapping the 20-inning scoreless streak, when Keith scored from second base on Báez's ground-ball single into right field. An aggressive send from third base coach Joey Cora — pushing Keith to his limits and testing the arm of right fielder Jake McCarthy — paid off with the Tigers' first run since the eighth inning of Monday's game against the Miami Marlins at Comerica Park.
After that, the Tigers scored three runs in the third inning, one run in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and two runs in the sixth.
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In the third, Carpenter turned on an inside cutter for a two-run triple to the right-field corner for a 3-0 lead. Keith extended the lead to 4-0 by turning on an inside cutter, as well. Both cutters were thrown by right-hander Ryne Nelson , who allowed eight runs on 11 hits in his seventh start.
Detroit Tigers shortstop Javier Báez (28) hits a two-run double against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fifth inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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An RBI double from Wenceel Pérez increased the Tigers' advantage to 5-0 in the fourth. Mark Canha , who reached safely on a two-out single, scored from first base on Pérez's double to right-center field because of another aggressive send from Cora.
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The Tigers made it 11-0 with six runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by Keith's RBI single, Báez's two-RBI double, Riley Greene 's RBI single and Carpenter's two-RBI double. Three hits in a row — Keith's single, Spencer Torkelson 's double and Báez's double — pushed the lead to 13-0 in the sixth inning.
The two-run doubles from Báez had a 110.5 mph exit velocity and a 105.5 mph exit velocity, respectively. The fifth-inning double from Carpenter had a 109 mph exit velocity.
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Tarik 'Ace' Skubal
In his ninth start, Skubal retired 18 of 19 batters he faced over six scoreless innings. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 19 batters, and he threw 53 of 74 pitches for strikes.
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The 27-year-old sent down 13 batters in a row, including a stretch of five strikeouts in a row, before Grichuk hit an up-and-away changeup for a double off the wall in center.
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Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Skubal relied on a heavy dose of ground-ball outs before his flurry of strikeouts: Gabriel Moreno (swinging strike, 97.4 mph fastball) and Kevin Newman (swinging strike, 90.2 mph changeup) to complete the third inning, then Ketel Marte (swinging strike, 87.6 mph changeup), Corbin Carroll (called strike, 90.2 mph changeup) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (swinging strike, 99.9 mph sinker) in the fourth inning.
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He fell behind 3-0 in the count to Gurriel, snapping a streak of first-pitch strikes to the first 11 batters. But Skubal battled back with three strikes in a row for a strikeout: a fastball for a called strike, a fastball for a swinging strike and a sinker for a swinging strike. He increased his velocity with each of those three pitches, from 95.6 mph to 97.7 mph to 99.9 mph.
Skubal also struck out Eugenio Suárez in the fifth inning. After Grichuk's double, Skubal retired the final five batters he faced — including the Suárez strikeout immediately after the double — to complete his brilliant outing.
He generated 13 whiffs on 39 swings — a 33.3% whiff rate — with three fastballs, four changeups, two sinkers, two sliders and two curveballs. Skubal set a new career high with a 100.2 mph pitch to Newman in the sixth inning, resulting in a foul ball.
After the 'Ace'
The Tigers completed the shoutout with scoreless performances from right-handed reliever Will Vest in the seventh inning and left-handed reliever Joey Wentz in the eighth and ninth innings.
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Wentz stranded runners in scoring position in both innings, including working around a leadoff single from Ketel Marte — extending his hitting streak to 16 games — in the ninth.
It was the Tigers' third shoutout of the season, and their first shutout since the fourth game of the season.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple , Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers stomp Arizona Diamondbacks behind Tarik Skubal gem
