The Detroit Tigers returned to Comerica Park on Monday after winning three games against the Minnesota Twins, the best team in the weak American League Central, in a four-game series at Target Field.
But the lowly Kansas City Royals, by far the worst team in the division and the second-worst team in the AL (ahead of the Oakland Athletics), threatened to pause the Tigers’ momentum until Kerry Carpenter’s go-ahead home run with two strikes and two outs in the seventh inning.
The Tigers won, 6-4, in Monday’s series opener.
“I was just trying to be on time with the heater and see any offspeed up (in the strike zone),” Carpenter said. “He finally left one over the middle, and I got to it. … I was just looking for something to hit in the middle of the zone.”
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Although the Tigers (31-40) have improved on offense in the past 10 games, they failed to string together a series of competitive plate appearances against Royals right-hander Jordan Lyles for most of the game.
Entering Monday, Lyles had an 0-11 record and a 6.89 ERA in 14 starts.
The Tigers scored their first run in the fifth inning, thanks to a two-out defensive blunder by left fielder Edward Olivares, but didn’t have another scoring opportunity for two more innings.
A five-run seventh changed everything.
Back-to-back hits from Miguel Cabrera (single) and Jonathan Schoop (double) put two runners in scoring position and chased Lyles. Right-handed reliever Taylor Clarke couldn’t escape the no-out jam, as Jake Rogers poked a two-strike sweeper into left field.
Cabrera and Schoop scored on Rogers’ single to cut the Tigers’ deficit to 4-3.
“I was just trying to put something in play,” Rogers said. “Get a fly ball into the outfield, do something. Luckily, I got a little bit and threw it over the third baseman there. That was a huge spot, and I wanted to do a little movement there.”
Later on, the Tigers had runners on first and second base for Spencer Torkelson in the seventh inning.
Torkelson struck out looking on Clarke’s down-and-away changeup, which clipped the bottom of the strike zone, and expressed his displeasure to home plate umpire Will Little about the call.
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With two outs, Carpenter saved the Tigers and completed the comeback with a three-run home run for a 6-4 lead. He battled Clarke for five pitches, and with two strikes, the left-handed slugger didn’t miss a poorly executed changeup that ended up in the heart of the strike zone.
The ball traveled 381 feet to right field.
“We had the right guy up at the right time,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He got the right pitch and the right outcome. But I think the at-bats leading up to that were really important.”
It was Carpenter’s sixth home run this season and his second homer in as many games.
Lyles, who signed a two-year, $17 million contract in the offseason, allowed three runs on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts. He limited hard contact by mixing six pitches but primarily relied on two pitches: an 82 mph sweeper and a 92.5 mph four-seam fastball.
Four runs off the kid
In his fourth MLB appearance, right-hander Reese Olson displayed his entire swing-and-miss arsenal en route to eight strikeouts. The Royals capitalized on his mistakes, and one defensive mistake from shortstop Zack Short, en route to four runs.
Olson allowed two home runs in the fourth inning.
“I think I threw the ball well,” Olson said. “The solo home run is whatever. That’s going to happen. A little backup slider for the two-run homer. Other than those two, to get through six (innings), I thought I threw the ball well.”
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Bobby Witt Jr., one of the best young hitters in baseball, clobbered his 12th home run — a 442-foot solo homer to left-center field — to begin the fourth inning. He hit a third-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate.
The Royals teed off on Olson’s four-seam fastball — putting five balls in play with an average exit velocity of 97 mph — as the rookie generated just one of his 15 whiffs with his fastball. He got 13 called strikes with his fastball, though.
After MJ Melendez walked, Maikel Garcia hammered a first-pitch slider at the bottom of the strike zone with two outs in the fourth inning. His two-run home run, which traveled 411 feet to left field, extended the Royals’ lead to 3-0.
“It backed up, and he got it,” Olson said. “Props to him for hitting the 0-0 (count) slider.”
Kansas City’s fourth run came with two outs in the fifth inning. Witt hit a grounder to Short — the starting shortstop with Javier Báez getting day off for rest — and reached safely.
Short threw the ball past Torkelson, the first baseman, and was charged with his first error of the season, which allowed Nick Pratto to score from second base.
“The last run wasn’t his fault,” Hinch said. “He should have gotten out of that inning. But he hung in there mentally. I don’t know how much he knew we needed the length, but he responded with really calm, professional innings.”
Olson, who turns 24 at the end of July, allowed four runs (three earned runs) on six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts, throwing 63 of 100 pitches for strikes. He logged 15 whiffs with one fastball, seven sliders, six changeups and one sinker.
His fastball averaged 94.8 mph.
“A few things here and there, but for the most part, I’m confident in my stuff,” said Olson, who has a 5.59 ERA in four games. “I know I can get outs here. It’s just a matter of executing.”
Alex Lange bounces back
The Tigers turned to left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander following Olson’s departure.
He pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Alexander retired back-to-back batters — Melendez (strikeout) and Olivares (forceout) — to strand runners on the corners in the eighth inning.
“He can be anything out there,” Rogers, the Tigers’ catcher, said of Alexander. “Coming into that spot and shutting those guys down, that’s huge. He’s always been that guy out there. He’s going to throw strikes, and he’s going to come at them, which I really appreciate.”
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In the ninth inning, the Tigers went to right-handed reliever Alex Lange to protect a 6-4 advantage.
Lange, the Tigers’ de facto closer, came into Monday’s appearance with a 22.50 ERA, five walks and four strikeouts in four innings across eight games in June. He crumbled in Sunday’s eighth inning, hitting two batters and walking two batters, before righty reliever Jason Foley cleaned up his mess.
This time, Lange didn’t make a mess.
He retired all three batters he faced for his 11th save.
“The peaks and valleys of players in general, but back-end relievers, you got to have a short memory,” Hinch said. “The next day, you’re going to need everything you got to get through another game. Never a doubt in Alex.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
Next up: Royals
Matchup: Tigers (31-40) vs. Kansas City (19-53).
First pitch: 6:40 p.m. Tuesday; Comerica Park, Detroit.
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
Probable pitchers: Tigers — RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-4, 4.23 ERA); Royals — LHP Daniel Lynch (0-3, 5.79).