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- The Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 9-5, to take another series win.
- Kerry Carpenter had a home run and a double for the Tigers.
- Riley Greene added a two-run homer in the sixth inning for the Tigers.
By OPS (.843), outfielder Kerry Carpenter has been the best hitter among Detroit Tigers regulars this season.
He showed why in a 9-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, Aug. 10. Carpenter blew the game open in the fourth inning with a towering, three-run home run to right field, setting a career high for homers with the blast.
With the Tigers up 3-0 entering the bottom of the fourth, center fielder Javier Báez led off with an infield single, with consecutive singles from designated hitter Colt Keith and second baseman Gleyber Torres making it 4-0. Carpenter launched his homer two pitches later, making it 7-0 for the Tigers and knocking second-year right-hander Jack Kochanowicz out of the game.
“Putting up a lot of runs is always fun as a lineup,” Carpenter said. “Seeing us put together good at bats has been great. It felt like ourselves today.”
The home run was Carpenter’s 21st of the season, topping his 20 in 2023. It also marked his third game with at least four RBIs this season; his previous such game came on June 2 when he hit three home runs in a 13-1 Tigers win over the White Sox in Chicago.
He finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs.
Tigers bats bust out early
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Carpenter’s first-inning check-swing dribbler towards third base turned into extra bases, with Angels third baseman Luis Rengifo leaving him a wide berth on the left side of the infield as he shifted towards shortstop.
“He made a pretty good pitch there,” Carpenter said. “I know I didn’t hit it that hard, so once it got past Rengifo I thought I might as well go for it.”
Left fielder Riley Greene drove him in five pitches later with a solid single into right-center, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead and the struggling Greene his first RBI this month.
Consecutive singles from first baseman Spencer Torkelson and third baseman Zach McKinstry then made it a 2-0 game, giving the Tigers four consecutive two-out hits off Kochanowicz in the inning.
Getting the early lead has been important for a struggling Tigers offense, as Detroit entered Sunday with a 23-6 record when leading after the first inning. It was also the first time since July 28 that the Tigers had a lead after the first inning — that game ended in a 5-1 win for the Tigers over the Diamondbacks.
Greene not only had his first August RBIs on Sunday, but also hit his first home run in nine games, as well.
With the Tigers up 7-3, Greene lined a two-run home run off Carson Fulmer just over the right field wall to mark his 27th homer of the season. It’s the 12th time this season that Greene has recorded at least three RBIs in a game, which ties the Boston Red Sox’s Trevor Story and the Chicago Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki for the second most in MLB in 2025. (Seattle Mariners trade-deadline pickup Eugenio Suárez has the most with 14 games with 3+ RBIs.)
Greene’s three RBIs give him 87 for the season, tying him with Angels left fielder Taylor Ward for fifth in MLB. He finished 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.
In his first at-bat up from the minors, shortstop Trey Sweeney, who replaced an injured Matt Vierling on the roster, singled to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Consecutive one-out walks loaded the bases for Carpenter, who drove Sweeney in from third base with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 game.
Sweeney finished 1-for-3 with a run and a walk.
“It’s amazing how different our offense is when we can piece together [good] at-bats,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It means you don’t have to be perfect. It can be a sac fly, and all of a sudden you help the guy next to you have a more productive at-bat.”
Mize pitches five solid innings
In arguably his best game since the All-Star break, Tigers starting pitcher Casey Mize turned in five innings of three-hit ball with two earned runs, both coming on a home run from Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel in the fifth inning. But the game once again started with traffic on the bases for the righty.
Mize allowed a one-out single to Schanuel in the top of the first inning and followed by walking designated hitter Mike Trout, putting a runner in scoring position for Ward, the Angels’ top power threat. The left fielder lined out softly to Sweeney, however, and Mize ended the inning by striking out right fielder Jo Adell.
Mize had allowed first-inning runs in each of his previous two appearances, when he combined to allow four earned runs in 7⅔ innings pitched (though both ended in Tigers wins). He followed up a scoreless first inning with a 1-2-3 second inning, and then pitched through a scoreless third and fourth inning while allowing only two baserunners.
After a lengthy break during the Tigers’ four-run fourth inning, Mize gave up his first runs in the fifth off the Schanuel home run. He settled down after, striking out Trout to end the fifth and finish an effective start.
“I wish I could’ve maybe given us a little more length than I did, but overall it was a fine day,” Mize said.
The Tigers’ bullpen gave up three runs after Mize exited, one off an RBI single from Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe in the sixth inning (with Tommy Kahnle pitching) and another off a two-run home run from Rengifo in the eighth (with Rafael Montero pitching). Righty Will Vest finished out the game with 1⅓ scoreless innings.
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
