DETROIT — Kerry Carpenter is starting to get a bit of a reputation as a thorn in the side of the Cleveland Guardians.

The Detroit Tigers’ corner outfielder famously hit the go-ahead three-run homer against the Guardians in Game 2 of last season’s ALDS matchup between the two American League Central foes.

And it looked like Carpenter was back to ail Cleveland again Tuesday night with a game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

The Guardians would end up taking the game in extra innings, staving off Detroit’s bid at the AL Central title in this week’s series. But another heated game continues a string of back-and-forth matchups between the two top clubs in the division.

“They never go away. We never go away,” Carpenter said after the 7-5 defeat at Comerica Park. “It’s a couple things that we pride ourselves on when playing anybody, but especially these games. Anything can happen in these games. They always seem to be pretty close, and they’re really fun.”

There’s a lot of familiarity for the clubs, not just because they share a division but because many of the homegrown talents on these teams played each other numerous times in the minor leagues.

Cleveland’s starter on Tuesday, Joey Cantillo, has been playing against Tigers affiliates for four seasons before joining the major-league club. Go back to May 2022 and you could see Cantillo starting against a Double-A Erie lineup with current Tigers Parker Meadows, Dillon Dingler and Carpenter.

Now these players are going at it with MLB playoff implications on the line and matchups are frequently coming down to just a handful of moments.

Of their eight matchups so far this season, five were decided by two or fewer runs and three have gone to extra innings. All of that following a playoff series that went to five games last season.

It’s led nearly every decision in the chess match between managers A.J. Hinch and Stephen Vogt important to their head-to-head results.

“That is part of this, of the back-and-forth between us and Cleveland,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “With as left-handed as they are, we’re going to get the advantage when I can get (a lefty) in the game…We played Cleveland like this it feels like 50 times in the last couple seasons. I know it hasn’t been that many games, but pretty much guessing that the next two are going to be this way too.”

The Tigers are going to finish the regular season with five of their final 11 games being against the Guardians with Detroit holding a 5.5-game lead over them in the AL Central.

Cleveland is also just 2.5 games outside a Wild Card spot, meaning it’s certainly possible the pair could meet in the postseason again.

After having a losing record to Cleveland every season from 2016-2022, the Tigers are starting to make it one of the more competitive head-to-head rivalries in the AL Central.

“It’s a real blessing to be in this position,” Carpenter said. “It’s fun to battle those guys because those guys are awesome and they’re really good. It’s a fun little rivalry that we have now.”

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