With a different mindset as DH, Carpenter delivers again for Tigers

DETROIT -- Part of the challenge of being a designated hitter is knowing how to put a bad at-bat behind you when there aren’t defensive innings to focus on. Never mind that Kerry Carpenter homered twice in his return from the injured list a night earlier. Bryan Woo’s fastball and changeup left him tipping his cap.

“He got me three times, but you're just never out of the fight,” Carpenter said.

By contrast, Yimi García’s fastball over the plate in the eighth left Carpenter swinging out of his shoes. And what looked like a hangover game after Tuesday’s 15-run outburst instead became the latest Tigers comeback, started by Carpenter’s game-tying two-run homer and punctuated by Akil Baddoo’s 10th-inning pinch-hit double -- his first walk-off hit since his rookie season in 2021 -- for a 3-2 win over the Mariners on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

Carpenter has three home runs in two games since returning from a stress fracture in his lower back that cost him nearly three months. He has six home runs and 11 RBIs in seven career games against Seattle. Most importantly, he has the Tigers rolling.

“We have a lot of momentum right now,” Carpenter said. “We have a lot of young guys that are finding their footing. We have a bunch of guys that just have great at-bats and hit the ball hard. There's a lot of things to be excited about.”

For seven innings, the Tigers and Carpenter seemed poised to fall victim to the old Earl Weaver saying: Momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. Woo tossed 6 2/3 quality innings against the Tigers in a no-decision last week in Seattle, but he held them to four singles over seven innings in the rematch. Half of his six strikeouts came at the expense of Carpenter, who was rehabbing with Triple-A Toledo last week.

Carpenter’s strength is combining power with pitch recognition, but he had trouble recognizing Woo’s fastball. While Woo’s 19.7 percent whiff rate this year ranks in the bottom 10 percent of Major League pitchers according to Statcast, his fastball draws a solid 23.4 percent rate. He threw four in a row in the first inning to Carpenter, who took one for a strike and whiffed on two others.

From there on, Carpenter was on Woo’s amusement ride, sped up by fastballs to set up changeups. Three 0-2 counts resulting in three swinging strikeouts. He fanned on the changeup to strand two runners in the third inning, then chased a 96 mph high heater in the sixth.

“For some reason, I couldn't really pick it up tonight. I couldn't really pick up anything out of his hand,” Carpenter said. “He got me to chase. He got me to miss a lot of heaters, some changeups down. Yeah, he was pretty good tonight.”

It can be particularly rough on a designated hitter who sits between at-bats. It’s a reason some skilled hitters dread the DH slot, trying to balance sitting around against cage work while keeping the mind focused.

Carpenter loves playing the outfield, and he hopes to get back out there soon. But he has learned the mindset of a DH.

“It's not easy,” he said, “but it's something that you just have to be conscious of. It's something you have to do if you want to be the best, and I want to be at my best every at-bat. Can't go up there thinking, 'I don't want to strike out four times.' I have to think this is my first at-bat of the day and get on him.”

Carpenter was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against García for his career, including a May 26 pinch-hit strikeout against the then-Blue Jay in Carpenter’s final at-bat before going on the injured list.

“I felt confident,” Carpenter said. “I've faced Yimi García before. I know what his stuff is like.”

García had him set up for a similar fate Wednesday, having induced him to miss a fastball and chase a curveball in the dirt for a 2-2 count. García went back to the fastball, but left a 96 mph heater over the plate.

"He missed one pitch,” Carpenter said, “and I took advantage.”

The Tigers had an 8.7 percent win probability before Matt Vierling’s double extended the inning for Carpenter’s at-bat. When Carpenter’s drive hit the Pepsi canopy over the right-field tunnel, the Tigers’ chances rose to 52.5 percent.

“Bad pitch,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Wrong spot to their hottest hitter. … He jumped on it, and it flipped the game.”