Detroit Tigers: Kerry Carpenter’s impact. What about lefties?
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold and Chris Castellani debate if Detroit Tigers slugger Kerry Carpenter needs more at-bats vs. left-handed pitchers.
The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0, for their third straight victory.The Tigers scored five runs in the first inning, fueled by a two-run single by Dillon Dingler.41-year-old Charlie Morton, making his third start with the Tigers, shut out the Twins over six innings, with five strikeouts.
MINNEAPOLIS — It wasn’t pretty, but Detroit Tigers right-hander Charlie Morton shut out the Minnesota Twins for six innings.
The 41-year-old, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles at the July 31 trade deadline, struggled to throw strikes with three walks and one hit-by-pitch, but he made pitches in big moments in his third start with the Tigers.
The Tigers supported Morton by scoring five runs in the first inning, leading to a 7-0 win over the Twins on Friday, Aug. 15, in the second of four games at Target Field.
With their third win in a row, the Tigers (72-52) increased their lead to 7½ games over the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central.
In the first inning, facing right-hander Pierson Ohl, the Tigers sent nine batters to the plate for a 5-0 advantage: Colt Keith (single), Gleyber Torres (single), Kerry Carpenter (fielder’s choice error), Riley Greene (flyout), Spencer Torkelson (walk), Wenceel Pérez (strikeout), Dillon Dingler (single), Zach McKinstry (single) and Javier Báez (double).
The Tigers accomplished something their hitters have struggled to do for the last month: They beat up a bad starter in the first inning, plus they took advantage of a defensive mistake.
Keith scored on Carpenter’s grounder that was booted by second baseman Luke Keaschall for a 1-0 lead, followed by three two-out hits to capitalize on the fielding error: Dingler’s two-RBI single, McKinstry’s RBI single and Báez’s RBI double for a 5-0 lead.
Of the five runs, four were unearned because of the error.
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The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the third inning with Dingler’s RBI double for a 6-0 lead after Torkelson’s single and Pérez’s walk, then Báez’s sacrifice fly for a 7-0 lead.
The Twins kept the Tigers from scoring in the final six innings.
Dingler led the Tigers’ offense, finishing 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Torkelson went 1-for-2 with two walks, including an impressive 12-pitch walk in the first inning.
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Charlie Morton blanks Twins
Facing the Twins, Morton tossed six scoreless innings on two hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
He threw just 56.1% of his 98 pitches for strikes.
In the first inning, Morton walked back-to-back batters with two outs, but he escaped without damage when he struck out Matt Wallner swinging on a down-and-in curveball. He also retired three batters in a row after Brooks Lee’s leadoff double in the second.
In the fourth, Morton walked Keaschall and hit Wallner to open the inning, but he bounced back by putting away the next three batters, all on balls in play.
Keaschall produced the second and final hit against Morton in the sixth inning. After that, Morton concluded his outing by inducing an inning-ending double play.
Morton, an 18-year MLB veteran, generated 12 whiffs on 38 swings for an above-average 31.6% whiff rate with seven curveballs, two fastballs and three changeups. His fastball averaged 94.5 mph, maxing out at 96.4 mph.
He owns a 5.20 ERA in 26 games (20 starts).
Two hits for Gleyber Torres
Dating back to July 23, Torres entered Friday’s game hitting .165 (13-for-79) with four home runs, five walks and 15 strikeouts in 20 games. He had just one hit without a walk in his last four games, spanning 18 plate appearances.
The Tigers were never worried about him.
“I see a little bit of unlucky outcomes for him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Thursday, Aug. 14, before the first game of the series. “He’s hit the ball pretty hard on a few occasions and hasn’t gotten the hits that offset the statistical grab whenever you look at his last 20 at-bats, last 30 at-bats.”
In Friday’s game, Torres collected two hits.
Most notably, Torres pulled a cutter from Ohl in the first inning with a 105.3 mph exit velocity for a single. He came around to score on Dingler’s two-run single for a 3-0 lead.
Torres is hitting .264 with a .766 OPS in 110 games.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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