Detroit Tigers score: Chris Paddack allowed one run over six innings, and Kerry Carpenter hit a two-run homer for the Tigers' 4th straight win.
Four wins in a row.
After losing 12 of 13 games, the Detroit Tigers have responded to their worst stretch of baseball like it never happened — reminding the industry what they're capable of doing with less than 48 hours until the trade deadline.
This time, the Tigers earned a 7-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, July 30, at Comerica Park, completing the three-game sweep.
The trade deadline is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, July 31, but the Tigers (64-46) won't play again until Friday, Aug. 1, against the Philadelphia Phillies on the road at Citizens Bank Park.
The Tigers already completed their first trade Monday, July 28, by acquiring right-hander Chris Paddack (and right-hander Randy Dobnak) from the Minnesota Twins, with Paddack replacing injured Reese Olson in the starting rotation.
Paddack made his Tigers debut in Wednesday's game.
He impressed.
The 29-year-old allowed one run on three hits and no walks with five strikeouts across six innings, throwing 69% of his 84 pitches for strikes. The Diamondbacks scored their only run against Paddack in the fourth inning on Geraldo Perdomo's RBI single after Corbin Carroll's leadoff double.
Paddack generated eight whiffs on 44 swings for an 18.2% whiff rate with three fastballs, two changeups, two curveballs and one cutter. His fastball averaged 93.8 mph.
The Diamondbacks had an average exit velocity of 96.4 mph on 15 balls in play against him, so they hit him extremely hard, but Paddack limited them to one run.
Paddack has a 4.77 ERA in 22 starts.
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Offense is hot
The Tigers have scored 34 runs over their four-game winning streak, with double-digit hits in all four games.
They scored just 33 runs in their previous 13.
This time, the Tigers scored seven runs on 11 hits and one walk, including four runs (one earned run) on six hits over 5⅓ innings against right-hander Ryne Nelson, who struck out eight batters with no walks.
The Tigers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Kerry Carpenter's RBI triple that scored Colt Keith from first base. In the fifth, Keith extended the Tigers' lead to 2-1 with an RBI single.
Carpenter then launched a two-run home run for a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning. In the sixth, a double from Zach McKinstry made it 5-1 and a two-run home run from Jake Rogers made it 7-1.
A fielding error by Perdomo, the Diamondbacks' shortstop, ultimately led to the three runs in the fifth inning, but the other four runs were earned.
Colt Keith gets going
Entering Wednesday, Keith — the Tigers' leadoff hitter against right-handed pitchers — had been hitting .095 (4-for-42) with zero extra-base hits, six walks and 13 strikeouts in 15 games.
The 23-year-old finally snapped his 15-game slump by finishing 3-for-3 with three singles in Wednesday's series finale against the Diamondbacks.
Keith is hitting .253 with a .740 OPS in 98 games.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers bash Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-2, for 4th straight win
Category: Baseball
