DENVER (AP) — Javier Baez and Jake Marisnick each hit a grand slam and the Detroit Tigers went deep five times to beat the Colorado Rockies 14-9 Sunday.
It was the first time the Tigers hit two grand slams in a game since May 15, 2009, when Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn did it against Oakland. The last time it was done in the majors was last July 6 when Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks of the New York Yankees connected in a 16-0 victory at Pittsburgh.
“It carries well here,” Marisnick said. “I noticed it just shagging BP. It puts an extra few feet on it when you’re tracking it. When it goes up, it takes a while to come down here.”
The Tigers clinched the three-game series and won for the 10th time in 17 games after starting the season 27-39.
The five home runs matched the Tigers’ total from their previous four games and accounted for all 14 runs.
“It’s like a Coors Field special,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It never ends. Fortunately for us, we hung in there with some really big swings. You never feel comfortable and the score kind of shows it. They chipped away and played the whole game. We just ended up with more swings than they did. That’s a crazy game.”
Kerry Carpenter, Jake Rogers and Spencer Torkelson also homered for the Tigers. Torkelson’s two-run shot to left in the seventh inning was his team-leading 12th of the season and his fourth in the past five games.
Baez’s first-inning grand slam, the eighth of his career, gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead while Marisnick’s slam, his first home run of the season and the first career slam, came in the eighth and stretched Detroit’s lead to eight runs.
“I think Javi’s one of those guys that as he goes, we go,” Tigers starter Matt Manning said. “If he plays well and our good players play well, it makes the game really easy.”
The Tigers won despite being outhit 14-12. Entering the day, Detroit was 7-34 in games in which it was outhit.
Ryan McMahon and Randal Grichuk homered for the Rockies. McMahon’s two-run shot in the eighth was his team-leading 13th of the season. Harold Castro had three hits while Ezequiel Tovar’s RBI single in the sixth inning extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active run in the majors.
Manning (2-1) earned the win after giving up five hits and four earned runs in five innings while striking out four.
Connor Seabold (1-5) gave up eight earned runs and seven hits across five innings. It was his ninth consecutive start without a win. Over his past four starts, the 27-year-old right-hander has allowed 21 earned runs and eight home runs in 13 innings.
“He’s emotional,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He’s mad. He cares. It would be a better question for him, but we’ve talked about emotions and a lot of times, the media says ‘Hey, I love the emotion,’ as long as you channel it. I don’t think that affected any of his performance.”
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Rockies catcher Elias Diaz and Tigers starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen earned their first All-Star Game selections. Diaz became the first catcher in Rockies history to earn the distinction.
“It was surreal,” Lorenzen said. “I wasn’t really expecting it, to be honest. It definitely caught me off guard.”
UP NEXT
Tigers: LHP Tarik Skubal will make his season debut Tuesday as the Tigers return home to face LHP JP Sears (1-6, 6.43 ERA) and the Oakland Athletics.
Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (4-8, 4.88) takes the mound on the road against the Houston Astros and a yet-to-be-determined starter.
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