DETROIT — The oohs from Gleyber Torres’ flyout to the right-field fence Sunday had barely quieted when Kerry Carpenter stepped to the plate. The Tigers had two well-struck drives off Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz and nothing to show for them. When Kochanowicz coaxed Carpenter into chasing a sinker down and out of the zone, he seemed out of the inning.
“He made a pretty good pitch there,” Carpenter said. “It looked like a strike for a long time.”
But Carpenter’s checked swing connected, sending a slow roller to the left side … right through the third-base area left uncovered by the Angels’ infield defense, so slowly it didn’t register on Statcast.
“I got a little fortunate there,” Carpenter said with a smile. “I knew I didn’t hit it that hard, so once it got past [third baseman Luis] Rengifo, I was like, ‘You know what, might as well go for it.’”
Carpenter, just a couple of weeks back from a right hamstring strain, smelled the extra base and accelerated so quickly that left fielder Taylor Ward didn’t even attempt a throw.
Carpenter’s 15th double of the season was a good sign for the afternoon. Three more two-out singles followed, starting with an RBI liner through the right side for Riley Greene, building off his two singles from Friday.
By the end of Sunday afternoon’s 9-5 win at Comerica Park, the Tigers had 10 hits, at least one from eight of the nine players in their lineup, and had gone 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position. They also had a six-game lead atop the American League Central again, thanks to the White Sox win over the Guardians.
It was a pass-the-baton offense that had characterized their first three months of the season. Just as important, they got key hits from the big bats in the middle of their lineup. Carpenter and Greene combined for four hits, including all three extra-base tallies, and seven RBIs. Detroit’s last five runs came with Carpenter’s three-run homer in the fourth inning and Greene’s two-run homer in the sixth.
When the going gets tough, the Tigers need those big hits, especially against right-handed pitching. With Matt Vierling sidelined with a left oblique strain and Detroit down a right-handed bat, the Tigers could use help against lefties, too.
“When people ask me about what they need — they need encouragement, they need a pat on the back, they need a kick in the ass. They need hits,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “That’s the best remedy for guys to feel better about themselves.”
Carpenter has been rolling for a while. He hit three homers during the six-game homestand, going 7-for-20 with nine RBIs. He’s 13-for-36 (.361) with five homers, four doubles, one triple and 13 RBIs since returning from the injured list two weeks ago.
“I figured it out kinda before I went on the IL,” Carpenter said. “I went through a pretty tough stretch there for a while, just trying to make adjustments, and I finally found the one I needed to make. And so the last week before I got hurt, hit a couple homers and felt good at the plate. That was when I figured it out, and the whole time on the IL, I was like, ‘Let’s figure out how to keep it.’”
Carpenter converted a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity in the second inning with a sacrifice fly. Greene’s strikeout ended the inning, but it merely delayed the damage. Back-to-back singles from Colt Keith and Torres in the fourth drove in one run and set up Carpenter for the knockout on a 2-0 changeup that he sent into the right-field tunnel.
Greene’s rebound has been a longer process. He went 1-for-21 with nine strikeouts to open August before quietly adding two singles Friday. He struck out as a pinch-hitter Saturday, but Sunday’s first-inning single was a solid two-strike hit.
“Just as important as the homer,” Hinch said. “I know the homer is sexy and we got to change the scoreboard with two runs, but the two-strike, two-out base hit is part of this offense’s identity.”
The home run was nice, too — a 107.3 mph line drive into the right-field tunnel for Greene’s 27th homer of the year and his first since July 29, punishing former Tiger Carson Fulmer for a first-pitch curveball at the bottom of the zone.
“Felt good,” Greene said. “Just trying to find ways to help the team win every day. Sometimes it’s with the bat.”
