Carpenter’s Blast Lifts Tigers Over Twins in 6-3 Comeback Win

DETROIT, MI — Kerry Carpenter launched a go-ahead home run in a three-run sixth inning as the Detroit Tigers rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-3 on Monday night.

Wenceel Pérez and Dillon Dingler also homered for Detroit, which has now won six of its last eight games after enduring a 1-12 stretch. The Twins, on the other hand, have dropped five of their last six.

Tigers starter Casey Mize (10-4) earned the win, giving up three runs over six innings. Kyle Finnegan pitched a scoreless ninth to collect his second save with Detroit. Twins reliever Noah Davis (0-2) took the loss.

Despite being limited to just two hits in the first five innings, Minnesota made them count—both were long home runs. Ryan Jeffers blasted a solo shot to the flagpole in center field in the first, and Trevor Larnach added a fifth-inning bomb deep into the right-field stands.

Pérez responded in the bottom of the fifth, tying the game with a two-run homer. Minnesota briefly regained the lead in the sixth when Matt Wallner crushed a solo homer into the center field shrubbery, making it 3-2.

But Detroit wasn’t done. Javier Báez scored the tying run in the bottom of the sixth, and Carpenter followed with a 437-foot homer to right, putting the Tigers on top 5-3. Dingler added insurance with a solo shot in the seventh.

Twins opener Travis Adams was sharp early, holding Detroit to just one infield single through four innings before giving up Pérez’s game-tying homer in the fifth.

Minnesota’s three homers averaged a towering 430.3 feet, with Larnach’s and Wallner’s each traveling over 430.

Up next:
The teams meet again Tuesday night for Game 2 of the three-game series. Tigers right-hander Chris Paddack (4-9, 4.77 ERA) will face Minnesota’s Zebby Matthews (2-3, 5.67). Paddack has lost both of his previous starts against the Twins this season—while still wearing a Minnesota uniform. He was traded to Detroit on July 28.