Cleveland — For different reasons, they both badly needed to see balls fly into the seats.
Veteran Jonathan Schoop, mired in a season-long hitting slump, and rookie Kerry Carpenter, who was leading the minor leagues with 30 homers when he got called up and hadn’t sniffed one in the big leagues, hit homers on back-to-back pitches in the top of the sixth inning, breaking a 3-3 tie and helping the Tigers earn a split of the doubleheader against Cleveland, 7-5.
“We needed a win in the worst way,” manager AJ Hinch said. “That’s pretty obviously. Our guys had great energy all day, but tough first game, quick turnaround and our guys came out ready to play.
“The second game was a breath of fresh air, for sure.”
Schoop, who had struck out in his previous four at-bats, struggling to catch-up to fastballs, got a 2-1 changeup from reliever Eli Morgan and pummeled it into the seats in left. It was his ninth homer of the season.
Carpenter, who had doubled and scored in the first inning, jumped the next pitch, a 91-mph fastball, and sent it to the seats in right-center, 392 feet.
Carpenter, who hits left-handed, noticed in the previous inning that Morgan was leaving his changeup up in the zone to fellow lefty Harold Castro.
“Then Schoopy hit a changeup out, so I thought he might try to run a heater by me on the first pitch,” Carpenter said. “I was ready for it.”
BOX SCORE: Tigers 7, Guardians 5
The win snapped an eight-game losing streak and salved a tough, gut-punch of a loss in the opener.
“That’s the best part of it,” Carpenter said. “Hope we can keep that up.”
The storyline coming out of the first game was the continuation of the offensive malaise. The Tigers struck out 13 more times and had 100 punch-outs in the eight-game losing streak.
The Tigers responded with 15 hits in Game 2. Carpenter, Tucker Barnhart and Victor Reyes each contributed three hits. Reyes and Barnhart each had two RBI.
“Any time you get a win, especially the way our year has gone and the way it’s gone lately — getting a win against the team that’s leading the division is big,” Barnhart said. “And from a personal standpoint, being able to contribute in a positive way and help the team like I know I can, it felt good.”
Right-hander Bryan Garcia, the converted reliever, made his third spot start and, with a depleted bullpen, he powered through six innings — something he hadn’t done in his pro career.
“I was very excited for that,” he said, posting his first win of the season. “I hadn’t even gone five innings, now I got to go six. Pretty cool.”
The only damage against him came in the fourth inning — a two-run homer by Andres Gimenez and a solo homer by Luke Maile.
“That homer to Gimenez isn’t a pitch I feel too bad about,” he said. “Changeup down on an 0-1 pitch, just trying to fill up the zone and he put a good swing on it. You tip your cap. With Maile, just a fastball, got lazy with it.
“I’m just glad I could bounce back and go two more innings.”
‘It’s tough’: Tigers’ losing skid hits 8 as Guardians take Game 1 of doubleheader
Things got a little dicey in the bottom of the seventh. Right-hander Jose Cisnero has been back from the injured list for nearly a month, but he’d only worked eight innings. The rust was evident. He walked two and gave up an RBI single to Steven Kwan, making it a one-run game.
Hinch went quickly to Joe Jimenez who, with two runners on and Jose Ramirez looming on deck, induced a clutch 5-4-3 double-play from Amed Rosario. They don’t give saves in the seventh inning, but that was one.
The Tigers rebuilt the cushion scoring twice in the top of the eighth off veteran reliever Bryan Shaw. Schoop and Carpenter singled. Then Barnhart, failing to get the bunt down, instead slapped an RBI single to right.
“I hate facing Shaw,” Barnhart said. “It’s like he eats my lunch and he has for a long time. He’s not fun to bunt on, but in that situation, it’s my job to at least attempt to get a bunt down.
“I didn’t and it’s 0-2. The odds aren’t in your favor, for sure. To be able to grind out of the 0-2 hole against a guy I hate facing and get a hit was pretty cool.”
The Tigers’ dugout erupted when Barnhart slapped that hit to right.
“He’s very likeable and it’s been awful to watch him going through what, quite honestly, a lot of our guys have gone through,” Hinch said. “So when you have a good night and they can see a smile — Tucker hadn’t smiled in a while. He hasn’t felt good about his production.
“But we talked about it in the dugout, you can never lose your competitive spirit. You have to keep that edge. Guys need to contribute to feel good about themselves.”
Hinch could’ve made the same statement about Carpenter. He went 10 at-bats, 11 plate appearances, before getting his first big-league hit on Sunday. He got his first start in left field in Game 2 Monday, facing a familiar right-hander — Guardians’ prospect Xzavion Curry, who was called up from Triple-A as the 27th man and making his big-league debut.
Carpenter, who was 3 for 5 against Curry this year in Double-A, roped a double to the wall in right center and scored the first run of the game on a single by Barnhart.
“I had a pretty good idea of what he had,” Carpenter said. “That swing definitely loosened me up a little, just seeing the ball do what I want.”
Carpenter got the customary beer shower afterward.
“To be able to do that in a win means the world to me,” he said.
One more game ball:
Rookie Kody Clemens didn’t figure in the scoring, but his defense at third base was stellar. He ended the troublesome fourth inning taking a hit away from Tyler Freeman with a diving play.
Then in the fifth, he made an incredible catch on a foul popup by Owen Miller. Clemens had to lunge his body over the tarp to get the ball. He tried to brace himself by putting his right hand on the rail but he missed it. He was still somehow able to make the catch as he fell into the netting behind the tarp.
And, last but not least, it was Clemens who started the pivotal inning-ending double-play in the seventh.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
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