PHOENIX — Javier Báez broke out of a season-long slump with five RBIs, Tarik Skubal pitched six dominant innings and the Detroit Tigers pounded the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-0 on Friday night.
Coming off consecutive shutouts against Florida, the Tigers roughed up Rhyne Nelson (2-3) with three runs in the third inning and added six more in the fifth while chasing the Arizona right-hander. Detroit had 11 runs by the fifth inning and finished with a season-high 17 hits - seven for extra bases, but no homers.
“We’ve obviously been waiting and hoping for a night like that and it came together at a good time for us,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve done this before and this is a good version of us, but one good at-bat after another, it’s pretty awesome to see. It’s contagious.”
Hinch insisted he was going to keep sending Báez out despite the shortstop’s meager .167 batting average. Báez rewarded him with a 3-for-4 night that included a pair of two-run doubles and a run-scoring single.
He wasn’t alone in Detroit’s hit fest.
Kerry Carpenter had four RBIs and Colt Keith went 4 for 5 with two RBIs. Wenceel Pérez and Riley Greene also had run-scoring hits.
PHOTOS: Javier Báez has 5 RBIs, Tigers knock out 17 hits in 13-0 pummeling of Diamondbacks
“We did a good job of just directing the ball wherever he pitched it,” Hinch said. “We didn’t try to hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
It was more than enough for Skubal (6-0), who dominated despite fighting early nerves with numerous friends and family in attendance.
The left-hander who played high school ball in Kingman, Arizona, took a perfect game into the fifth inning and allowed one hit with six strikeouts in a combined three-hitter.
Skubal didn’t allow a baserunner until Randal Grichuk’s one-out double off the wall in the fifth inning and left with the Tigers leading 13-0.
“I was probably a little amped up, a little nervous, but it’s all good,” Skubal said.
Not for Arizona.
The reigning NL champions appeared to be headed in the right direction, winning seven of their previous 10 games.
The Diamondbacks fell into a huge hole after Nelson’s worst outing of the season and couldn’t muster much of anything against Skubal, getting two of their three hits in the eighth inning.
Arizona’s lone bright spot: Ketel Marte singled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games.
“The one good thing about today is that it’s over,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said.
Nelson was solid in his last outing, but it didn’t carry over against the Tigers. The right-hander allowed eight runs on 11 hits in four innings in his worst outing of the season.
“I think he just misfired some pitches in the middle of the zone,” Lovullo said. “I think that’s the common denominator: When he’s good, he’s hitting lines, when he’s not he’s missing in the zone - and he paid for that tonight.”
TRAINER’S TABLE
Tigers: RHP Kenta Maeda (illness) will begin his rehab assignment for Triple-A Toledo on Sunday. … RHP Shelby Miller (ulnar nerve irritation) underwent a hydrodissection procedure earlier this week and played light catch as part of his rehab.
Diamondbacks: OF Alek Thomas has resumed baseball activities and feels no soreness in his left hamstring. … SS Geraldo Perdomo took live at-bats at Arizona’s spring training facility as he works his way back from a torn meniscus.
UP NEXT
Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (5-2, 2.86 ERA) tries for his sixth win in the middle game of the series against Detroit RHP Jack Flaherty (0-3, 3.88).
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