On Sunday, Kerry Carpenter told the Tigers he was ready. On Monday, he was batting second in the series opener against the Mariners in his first big-league game in two and a half months.
"I wouldn't have said I was OK to go if I didn't feel like I was good to go," Carpenter said prior to the game.
He struck out in his first at-bat. In his second, Carpenter ripped a 97 mile per hour fastball into the Tigers' bullpen in left. In his third, he drilled a splitter into the seats in right. He scorched a slider through the second base hole in his fourth, just for good measure. How's that for living up to his word?
"I think just getting on time is the key for me," Carpenter said. "Being able to hit fastballs and offspeed and is what I was doing right before I went on the IL. Hitting for power and for extra-bases seems to be a symptom of when I'm going right, so whenever I'm doing that, I feel good."
He looked good Monday night, like he hadn't been sidelined since late May with a lumbar spine stress fracture. Carpenter was off to a strong start before his injury, touting a .914 OPS through 50 games. This was picking up where he left off. His two homers off George Kerby, one of the best starters in the AL, helped the Tigers cruise to a 15-1 win on a night they piled up 21 hits.
"That was just a special night to be a part of, whether it was my first game back or not," Carpenter said. "It was awesome to see everybody do so well. ... Whatever happened, I was just going to be free and play with gratitude to be back, and that's probably one of the reasons that it went so well."
The lefty-hitting Carpenter is a lynchpin of the Tigers' lineup, at least against righties. He needed just four rehab games with Triple-A Toledo to find his rhythm, much to the relief of A.J. Hinch: "I told Kerry, 'If you had done that in Charlotte (where Toledo played Tuesday night), I might have thrown up in the dugout. Like, I would have been happy for you, but we needed that in our dugout.' He said, 'Me too.'"
"Yeah," Carpenter laughed, "they don't count for beating the Mariners down there. It was nice that tonight happened up here."
"He's such a big presence and such a big threat," said Hinch. "It's amazing what one hitter does to the middle of your order where it just sort of relaxes the group. It's great to see him back, and you see the impact right away and the big smile as he's running around the bases and the joy that he plays with. One step closer to getting better and better."
Carpenter's loud return nearly drowned out Jake Rogers, who had a grand slam and a career-high seven RBI, most by a Tigers catcher since Bill Freehan in 1974 and most by any Tiger since Ryan Raburn in 2007. He credited his big night to lots of recent work in the cage, and to shaving his beard down to his signature mustache: "I think that pushed me over the top."
Carpenter also overshadowed Tarik Skubal, who mowed down the Mariners for the second time in as many starts. In 13 innings against Seattle between Tuesday and last Thursday, Skubal allowed three runs and six hits and racked 18 strikeouts.
"Those are a couple of our donkeys," Rogers said. "We rely on those guys. We want Skube on the mound every time we can and having Carp come back is a huge part of this lineup. We're a lot better when he's in there."
"Welcome back," Skubal said of Carpenter. "We've missed him, for sure. That bat is special, and what he did tonight he's going to do a lot more times."
For Carpenter, staying healthy is priority No. 1 the rest of the way. After that, it's "getting back to what I was doing, because the stretch before I went on the IL this year was probably the best I've ever played in the big leagues," he said.
The Tigers need his bat, now and moving forward. Carpenter still has a lot to prove against lefties, but his production against righties is real. His power is legit. The 26-year-old said he was playing "pretty close to my full potential" before his injury. He didn't miss a beat in his return.
