Riley Greene and Zach McKinstry blasted two-run homers during a six-run fifth inning and the host Detroit Tigers pounded the reeling Arizona Diamondbacks 12-2 on Tuesday.
Greene had three extra-base hits, scored three runs and drove in three. McKinstry knocked in four runs and Wenceel Perez had three hits and scored four times as the Tigers won their third straight. Dillon Dingler drove in two runs and Gleyber Torres added a solo homer as part of the team’s 19-hit attack.
Detroit’s starter, All-Star Casey Mize, lasted only 1 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits with three walks on 59 pitches. Brant Hurter (3-3) tossed 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to gain the win.
Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt (10-7) surrendered seven runs and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Ketel Marte had two hits and drove in a run for the Diamondbacks, who have lost seven of their last eight.
Corbin Carroll led off the game with a triple and scored on Marte’s single.
A leadoff walk to James McCann got Mize into more trouble in the second. Carroll had a one-out single and Marte reached on first baseman Spencer Torkelson’s error to load the bases. Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice fly scored McCann.
Detroit center fielder Matt Vierling made a juggling catch of McCann’s deep fly ball in the fourth. Greene then led off the bottom of the inning with a double and advanced to third on Perez’s one-out single. After a strikeout, Perez stole second and both runners scored on Dingler’s single to center to tie the score at 2.
The Tigers took the lead in the fifth with their long ball barrage. With one out, Torres lashed a Pfaadt sinker to the opposite field for his solo homer. Carpenter then singled ahead of Greene’s 26th homer, a blast over the right-center-field wall off a changeup.
McKinstry ended Pfaadt’s night with his two-out, two-run shot off another changeup. Ibanez’s pinch-hit RBI single off reliever Brandyn Garcia completed the outburst.
Greene had an RBI double and Perez supplied a run-scoring triple during a three-run sixth to make it 11-2. McKinstry plated the Tigers’ 12th run with a double in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
