Arizona 11 @ Detroit 6

Record: 38-25, half a game behind ATL for best record in the NL

NL West: 1st Place, 2.0 games ahead of the Dodgers

Wild Card: Irrelevant, but 5.0 games ahead of Miami for the first

Magic Number (via @imstillhungry95): We don’t have an update yet, you slacker...

A new series in a new city with slightly better air quality! The only time I’ve ever been to Detroit it was the middle of the day, and the city was vacant. It was weird. But it was surprisingly nice, very clean. The baseball players probably have a different experience there though.

Well, the early going was explosive in this one. Carroll homered after two quick outs in the first. And Baez made the ultimate TOOTBLAN trying to take third when Rojas’ throw to Walker got away. Thankfully Herrera went above and beyond to back the play up and gunned the expensive warm body on his slide. Rivera singled in the second and small ball got him home; unfortunately, Perdomo (RBI) attempted to take second on the throw home and got himself thrown out on the slide. The Tigers scored in the second, but thankfully only once.

Nothing exciting happened until the bottom of the fourth when Baddoo hurt his leg running up the line... Ibanez replaced him. Unfortunately, another injury for Detroit, who have seen too many important players get hurt. On the plus side for Kelly, he had settled in. Sadly, so had Lorenzen who retired the entire Arizona lineup the second time through. In the bottom of the sixth though, Kelly got a little shaky and allowed the tying run to score (although McCarthy made a NICE catch to help keep the game tied ins lieu of letting the Tigers take the lead).

His offense had his back though, as Walker and Rivera started the seventh with back-to-back doubles, scoring the go-ahead run! Then the inning got really fun: Rojas sac bunt, McCarthy RBI single, Perdomo long fly out, Herrera single (Jake to third), Pavin loaded the bases on a catcher interference, Marte walked a run home, CARROLL HIT A GRAND SLAM before Walker flew out to end the fun. Lorenzen was replaced by Will Vest before Pavin’s at bat. Kelly came out for the bottom and immediately gave up a home run to Jake Rogers. He got Marisnick out before Jameson replaced him and ended the inning quickly.

Garrett Hill pitched the eighth. He walked Rivera before getting Rojas to ground into a double play on base with ANOTHER catcher’s interference. Buuuuuuuut McCarthy grounded into a double play, advancing Rivera to third. Perdomo then grounded out to end the inning hit an infield single to score Rivera after another successful Arizona Challenge! Jameson gave up two hits, scoring Detroit’s 4th run, but sent the game to the ninth without further issue.

The ninth was “exciting” but a foregone conclusion. Marte and Carroll got on base and then Walker hit a sac fly before both Rivera and Rojas made outs. Jameson attempted to finish the game, but gave up Jake Roger’s second home run of the night. He did get the next two outs before being lifted for Castro. Baez greeted him with a home run, but Torkelson grounded out to end the game!

ARIZONA 11, DETROIT 6 - ARIZONA WINS

Conclusion

This was an exciting game! At times it was a pitcher’s duel, at times a track meet and other times still it was a powerfest. Carroll had his first multi-homer game AND hit his first Grand Slam; the first of many on both accounts if we’re lucky! Detroit finally got some offense from former 1-1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson (he’s been worth less value than Pavin Smith in their respective careers...). Lorenzen upped his trade value a bit, but then probably deflated it again at the end of his night.

In the end, that doesn’t matter to Arizona right now though. WE WON. AGAIN! That’s the dream.

Fangraphs

Comment of the Day

Michael earned it tonight. He’s the only Sedona Red comment at time of publication and man did he Anti the Tigers SO BAD with this one.

Up Next

Saturday afternoon game this week because Taylor Swift is in Detroit. Wish me luck, I’m going to the game in person and will most assuredly get stuck in her traffic. And it’s Detroit... Ryne Nelson will go toe-to-toe with Matthew Boyd at 10:10 Arizona Time