The Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> (37\u201325), after winning both games played against the Washington Nationals<\/a> (25\u201336), hold a game-and-a-half lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> (36\u201327) for the NL West lead and trail the Atlanta Braves<\/a> (38\u201324) by a game for the NL\u2019s best record. After an unscheduled off-day due to a postponement, they will conclude their two-city road trip in Detroit. There they will play a weekend three-game series against the struggling Detroit Tigers<\/a> (26\u201334), who as recently as a week ago were second in the AL Central but have since fallen to fourth. This edition of Diamondbacks Report will briefly review the Nationals series before previewing the key details of the three games with the Tigers.<\/p>\n In Game One, the Diamondbacks overcame a first-inning grand slam by former Diamondback Stone Garrett<\/a><\/strong> en route to a 10\u20135 win. Every Diamondback in the game reached base, all but Christian Walker<\/a><\/strong> with at least one hit. Incredibly, Pavin Smith<\/a><\/strong> had the only Diamondbacks extra-base hit. Smith, Emmanuel Rivera<\/a><\/strong>, Josh Rojas<\/a><\/strong>, and Gabriel Moreno<\/a><\/strong> each had two hits in the game. Smith and Rojas each had three RBI, as well. In addition, the Diamondbacks stole five bases, with Jake McCarthy<\/a><\/strong> swiping two.<\/p>\n Game Two saw a sharp pitching performance from Zach Davies<\/a><\/strong>, who allowed two runs on five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts across 6 2\/3 innings to lead the Diamondbacks to a 6\u20132 victory. Offensively, Corbin Carroll<\/a><\/strong> had a career day, going 4-for-5 with a home run, two RBI, a stolen base, and three runs scored. Rivera went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored. Evan Longoria<\/a><\/strong> added two doubles, while Ketel Marte<\/a><\/strong> added one.<\/p>\n Major League Baseball postponed Game Three due to hazardous air quality. The Diamondbacks will play that game \u2014 an afternoon game \u2014 on Thursday, June 22, at 10:05 am Arizona Time. It will be on what was supposed to be an off-day between their three-gamers in Milwaukee and San Francisco.<\/p>\n The Diamondbacks have won eight of their last ten, with the two losses coming to the Braves. They are in a stretch of their schedule against seemingly lesser opponents, so they obviously want to take advantage of this stretch to maintain their division lead. On a side note, the last season the Diamondbacks played a game in Comerica Park, they made the playoffs.<\/p>\n The Tigers have lost six in a row and eight of their last nine. A series victory here would get them back toward the top of the AL Central standings. Currently, every team in the division has a losing record, and the Tigers \u2014 despite being eight games under .500 \u2014 are only 3.5 games behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins<\/a>.<\/p>\n Game One is a matchup between Tigers right-hander Michael Lorenzen<\/a><\/strong> (2\u20132, 3.21 ERA, 77 ERA-minus) and \u201cThe Mainstay,\u201d Diamondbacks righty Merrill Kelly<\/a><\/strong> (7\u20133, 2.80 ERA, 64 ERA-minus). Lorenzen throws a four-pitch mix: fastball, slider, changeup, and sinker. Kelly has six pitches in his arsenal: fastball, changeup, cutter, curveball, sinker, and slider.<\/p>\n In Lorenzen\u2019s nine appearances, all starts with five as a quality start, he has struck out 41, walked 12, and has a 0.994 WHIP across 53 1\/3 innings. On average, he pitches around six innings per start and gets about 3.6 runs of support per nine innings from his team while he\u2019s in the game. Opponents are batting .211 against him, 32 points lower than the AL average of .243. The following table compares his percentages and his WHIP to the AL average.<\/p>\nDiamondbacks \u2013 Nationals Series Summary<\/h3>\n
Diamondbacks and Tigers Storylines<\/h3>\n
Pitching Matchups between the Diamondbacks and Tigers<\/h3>\n
Game One \u2014 Friday, June 9, 3:40 pm Arizona Time, Bally Sports Arizona\/Bally Sports Detroit, MLB Network (out of market only)<\/h4>\n