DETROIT (AP) — Kerry Carpenter homered twice in his return from injury, Jake Rogers drove in seven runs and pitcher Tarik Skubal earned his MLB-leading 14th victory as the Detroit Tigers routed the Seattle Mariners 15-1 on Tuesday night.
“I was getting chills before the game just from seeing the guys and getting back out here,” said Carpenter, who had been out since May 26 with a stress fracture in his back. “It was really tough not being on the field, so this is a lot better.”
Rogers drove in two runs with a double in the third inning, added a grand slam in the fourth and hit an RBI double in the sixth to become the first Tigers players with seven RBIs in a game since Ryan Raburn against the Chicago White Sox on July 25, 2007.
The Tigers scored a season-high in runs and banged out a season-best 21 hits in their second straight victory and fourth win in seven games.
Skubal allowed one run on three hits in six innings. The 27-year-old left-hander struck out nine — raising his season total to a majors-leading 180 — walked one and hit two batters. Joey Wentz pitched the final three innings and earned his first MLB save.
Skubal’s biggest problem was waiting through Detroit’s lengthy offensive innings.
“That’s tough, but you are never going to complain about getting 15 runs,” he said. “We have really missed (Carpenter) — he has a special bat.”
In Skubal’s previous start, he held the Mariners to two runs in seven innings while striking out another nine.
“That’s twice seeing Tarik Skubal in six days, which is tough,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I’ve been in this league a long time seeing left-handed pitching and he’s as good as you are going to see.”
Seattle’s George Kirby (8-9) had his worst MLB start, allowing career highs in runs (11) and hits (13) in 3 2/3 innings.
“I thought George’s stuff was pretty good early, but he obviously made some mistakes as they extended some innings,” Servais said. “We could have made some plays, too. They had six infield hits and we had five of them in our gloves.”
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Matt Vierling led off with a single and scored on a two-out hit by Bligh Madris.
“If Matt Vierling doesn’t go from first to third in the first inning, we don’t get a run against one of the best pitchers in baseball, and who knows what happens after that,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s a tiny play on a big night, but that’s winning baseball.”
Detroit scored four runs in the third and six in the fourth.
Carpenter homered off Kirby to make it 2-0 in the third. Madris added another RBI single later in the inning before scoring on Rogers’ two-run double.
Mitch Haniger’s RBI single got the Mariners on the board in the fourth, but Carpenter hit a two-run homer to make it 7-1 in the bottom half.
“It is amazing what he does to the middle of the order,” Hinch said. “His presence just relaxes everyone behind him.”
Rogers ended Kirby’s night with a grand slam with two outs.
Javier Báez added a two-run homer off Troy Taylor in a four-run sixth.
Mariners shortstop Luis Rivas pitched a scoreless ninth.
UP NEXT
Seattle RHP Bryan Woo (5-1) is scheduled to work the the second game of the series against a bullpen game from the short-handed Tigers’ pitching staff.
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