Tiger Claws Defang Diamondbacks, 6-3

Record 32-41, Pace 71-91

Kody Clemens first career home run was a go ahead three run shot in the 6th inning off of Joe Mantiply for what turned out to be the game winning hit in a 6-3 Detroit Tigers victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Zach Davies pitched well , and deserved a better line than he ended up with:

5 IP, 5H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO. He was pulled after just 75 pitches in favor of Mantiply.

The game featured some strange defensive plays, some good, some bad and the D-backs offense once again failed to produce enough runs. All three of their tallies came in the 4th inning thanks to a two run shot from David Peralta and an RBI double by Daulton Varsho.

FULL INNINGS RECAP

T-1 Perdomo struggled with the transfer and extra step before throw to first to allow Javier Baez to reach on an infield single with two outs. Baez got picked off trying to steal 2b to end the inning.

B-1: Ketel Marte drew a two out walk, but Christian Walker flew out to center.

T-2: Daulton Varsho made a tremendous leaping catch on a liner over his head by Robbie Grossman with a man on first. Buddy Kennedy ended the inning with a nice backhanded glove flip on a grounder up the middle to get the force at second base.

B-2: Quick 1-2-3 , although Varsho hit one on the button, a 101 MPH line drive right at the Centerfielder.

T-3: Perdomo clanked a routine groundball off his glove for an E-6 but no harm came of it as Davies induced a couple of fly outs.

B-3: Jose Herera hit a one out single and advanced to 2^nd on a force. But Alek Thomas, out front of a changeup bounced back to the pitcher who took it to the bag himself beating the speedy Thomas.

T-4: Baez leadoff with a single. Cabrera got caught looking. But Harold Castro roped a double into the right field corner scoring Baez. Varsho had trouble digging the ball out and picking it up. It was originally scored a double and an RBI, with the runner advancing to 3^rd on the error but the scorer later changed it to a triple. Baez would have scored either way.

1-0 Tigers

B-4: Christian Walker drew a one out walk, and that was followed by David Peralta’s 9^th homer of the year. It came on a slider that stayed up and went 411 feet into the right field bleachers. Buddy Kennedy then walked, and Varsho finally got one to fall, a roped line drive that split the gap all the way to pool to score Kennedy.

3-1 D-backs

T-5: A one walk to Tucker Barnhart and a double by Victor Reyes gave Detroit 2^nd and 3^rd . Kennedy misplayed a broken bat hopper by Riley Greene for the E4, allowing two runs to score and tie the game at three all. Davies limited the damage by inducing a couple of popups to end the inning

B-5: Tyler Alexander pitching for Detroit. With one out, Alek Thomas reached second on a single and throwing error by Javier Baez. Ketel Marte then hit a sharp low line drive that hit Baez in the arm and popped up in the air. Baez caught the ball for the out as it never touched the ground. Walker was intentionally walked and Peralta grounded out to first for a frustrating inning.

Still 3-3 Tie

T-6: Davies out after just 75 pitches. Joe Mantiply in to pitch, gave up a leadoff hit to Castro. The inning was interrupted by a BEACH BALL landing behind Peralta. Don’t do that Arizona fans. The Wave this inning was annoying enough.

Another base hit by Robbie Grossman followed. One out later, Kody Clemens, (Yes THAT Clemens) hit his first career homerun to right, tagging Joe for three runs. A player doing poorly immediately after an article praising him is apparently an AZSnakepit thing. We are all Anti.

6-3 Tigers

B-6: Kennedy was robbed on a line drive to the gap that hung up a split second too long. Centerfielder Riley Greene made a full extension diving grab that is going to be on year end highlight reels

T-7: Mantiply and Noe Ramirez combined for a scoreless inning

B-7: Riley Greene made another nice play, a sliding catch of a popup to shallow center by Rojas. D-backs go down in order for the 2nd inning in a row. Just one infield single since the 4th.

T-8: Noe & Kyle Nelson put up a donut.

B-8: More D-backs futility on offense. Ketel singled to center, but a force out by Walker and a 4-6-3 by Peralta end the inning quickly

T-9: Melancon had a rare 1-2-3 inning

B-9: Left handed closer Gregory Soto on to close it out. Will the D-backs make me rewrite the opening paragraphs ? Nah, 2 K’s and a fly out end the game.

After the game Zach Davies and Torey both spoke about how having him go a shorter outing was the original game plan as they had a fully gassed up bullpen.

Zach Davies audio

Torey also admitted that it seems like the team just goes flat lately after the other team has a big home run. The quality of the at bats over the final 4 innings were very poor.

Torey Lovullo audio

Fangraphs Box Score

David Peralta +.090 WPA and Daulton Varsho +.081 WPA were about it for the D-backs in plus territory

Say it aint so Mantiply Joe. He had a whopping -.324 WPA today, Zach Davies -.093 and Josh Rojas , 0-4 out of the leadoff spot -.092 had rough nights.

No Sedona Red comments tonight out of the 89 comments. Taking our cue from theD-backs lineup, it seems the thread went a little flat after the big Clemens homer too.

Torey announced that Dallas Keuchel will be the starter for tomorrow’s game. Game time is 1:10 P.M. as the D-backs will once again attempt to salvage a game and avoid a sweep.