SEATTLE — Kerry Carpenter loves hitting at T-Mobile Park. He also loves hitting against George Kirby.
Carpenter had four big reasons to want to face Seattle’s righty at T-Mobile Park, with Detroit down a run in the fifth inning and an early postseason advantage on the line: He entered the day 4-for-8 for his career against Kirby, and all of those hits were home runs.
And after Saturday night’s battle, Carpenter has five big reasons.
“I tend to see [Kirby] well. He’s so good, though,” Carpenter said after delivering a two-run homer to give the Tigers their first lead in what would wind up a 3-2 victory in 11 innings in Game 1 of the AL Division Series. “… I was seeing him well tonight, especially after that first at-bat. I feel like I got my timing back a little bit. And I just wanted to make sure to get a good pitch to hit.”
The pitch he chose came on a 1-2 count and was a 97.1 mph sinker that did anything but. Carpenter crushed it, sending a Statcast-projected 409-foot drive to the right-field seats for a 2-1 Detroit edge. At 3.88 feet above the ground, it was the highest pitch Carpenter has hit for a home run in his Major League career.
“I don’t even know if it was a strike,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said afterward, “but it was a homer. I know that.”
The Mariners tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Julio Rodríguez single, but Carpenter’s big blow certainly got the momentum moving in Detroit’s direction. He backed up his bat with a strong glove in right field throughout the night, too, rewarding Hinch’s choice to start him in the outfield and the recently returned Colt Keith at designated hitter by chasing down eight hard-hit balls.
Carpenter’s true gift came at the plate, though, where he began his history against Kirby with two home runs in 2023 and two more in ’24. The pair didn’t meet this regular season due to injuries, as Kirby was out when the Tigers visited Seattle in early April and Carpenter was on the injured list when Kirby pitched at Comerica Park in July.
Kirby struck out Carpenter on a 99.5 mph sinker in the opening inning on Saturday. Carpenter then hit a solid line drive in the third inning, but right at Rodríguez in center field.
Seattle’s starter was poised to win the battle again with two outs and a runner in scoring position in the fifth inning, after he worked Carpenter into an 0-2 hole. But after Kirby couldn’t get Carpenter to chase a sinker out of the zone, he threw another — his third in a row — right at the top of the zone.
“The heaters up were working all day, and he finally got the one,” Kirby said. “So, just tip your cap. I executed the way I wanted to. I’m not going to go back and forth in my head, if that’s the right pitch or not. I threw it. I was convicted in it, and he hit a homer. … I wasn’t thinking about any prior home runs he hit off me in that situation.”
With the homer, Carpenter moved to 5-for-11 in his career off Kirby and has yet to have a hit land in play against him. According to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs, Carpenter is the only active Major League hitter to have at least five career hits against a pitcher when all were homers.
The home run was also his fourth in seven career games at T-Mobile Park, tied for his highest total anywhere besides Comerica Park.
“I always feel like the more I face people, the more opportunity I have to have success,” Carpenter said. “And so, yeah, I was hoping to get another opportunity off him.”
