Tigers Unleash Offensive Onslaught, Hand Diamondbacks a 13-0 Night to Forget

The Arizona Diamondbacks endured their worst loss of the season, falling 13-0 to the Detroit Tigers in what can only be described as a comprehensive dismantling.

Despite entering the game on the heels of two consecutive shutouts by the Miami Marlins—who hold the second-worst team ERA in Major League Baseball—the Tigers found their form against Diamondbacks‘ pitcher Ryne Nelson. Nelson, a 26-year-old righty, saw his ERA balloon to 7.06 after surrendering eight earned runs on 11 hits in just four innings.

Detroit initiated scoring with a run in the 2nd inning, beginning a streak of scoring in five consecutive innings. The brunt of the damage occurred in the 5th inning, where Detroit tallied six runs. Matt Bowman, recently acquired from the Twins, was particularly hard hit in his third appearance for Arizona, conceding five of those runs in his two innings pitched.

Once Nelson began the inning allowing a triple, walk, and base knock, Bowman gave up a couple of two-run doubles plus a base knock that scored Javy Baez. Five runs were ultimately credited to Bowman’s name during his two total innings on the bump.

Spearheading the Tigers offense was Colt Keith, who went 4-5 at the plate, scoring three runs. The rookie entered tonight with a .171 batting average across 128 plate appearances. It was his 1st four-hit game of his young career.

Javy Baez, another struggling bat inside the Tigers lineup, also had a monster night, driving in five runs on a handful of base hits.

Meanwhile, the D-backs failed to pick up their first hit until the 5th inning. Tarik Skubal, who was initially drafted in the 29th round of the 2017 MLB draft by the D-backs and grew up in Kingman, Arizona, improved to a perfect 6-0 this year while lowering his ERA to 1.80.

If the season were to end today, Skubal’s six innings of one-hit ball strengthened his case for the American League Cy Young Award.

The D-backs only real scoring threat came in the 8th inning, when they had runners on the corners with two outs. But it lasted just two pitches as Kevin Newman grounded out to end the inning.

In summary, it was a night marred by terrible pitching and terrible batting for the Diamondbacks. They will need to quickly shake off this defeat as they return to action tomorrow at Chase Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 5:10 PM.