Kerry

Carpenter

There should be an idea of Carpenter’s next steps in the coming days, but his odds of returning this season feel extremely low. The power-hitting corner outfielder landed on the injured list with plantar fasciitis back in late July.

Carpenter was going to need some extra time off to put the lingering foot issue to bed and the Tigers can’t really afford to play with a shortened bench while trying to remain in playoff contention. The 28-year-old has had an uncharacteristically poor campaign at the dish, slashing .208/.276/.416 with 13 homers across 259 plate appearances.

No surprise since Carpenter has been battling a lingering heel issue for the last week, which led to his early exit from Sunday’s series finale against the Royals. It could wind up becoming an injured list situation if he’s not feeling better in a couple days, especially since the Tigers are trying to remain in playoff contention heading up to next week’s trade deadline. It’ll be versatile Zach McKinstry taking over in right field in his absence.

Carpenter missed Tuesday’s game with the same issue. The Tigers might want to give him some time off to try to get back to 100 percent. He’s certainly not helping as is while going 6-for-52 with no extra-base hits or RBI this month.

Carpenter is at DH and hitting sixth following a brief one-game absence due to a bruised heel. The 28-year-old slugger has been struggling recently, hitting .091 (4-for-44) with one homer over his last 15 games.

Carpenter has been scuffling at the dish recently and has also been playing through a bruised heel that caused him to make an early exit from Monday’s series opener. The hope for the Tigers is that the extra time off puts the issue to bed.

Carpenter is 3-for-34 with no extra-base hits or RBI this month, dropping his OPS from .810 to .722. He put four balls in play today and none of them topped 90 mph. Considering his inability to hit lefties and his lack of defensive value, Carpenter is quite the liability when he’s not crushing righties. The Tigers need a lot more from him than this.

Carpenter put Minnesota ahead with a grand slam off Astros starter Kai-Wei Teng in the third innings. It was his 12th round-tripper of the season and third career grand slam. The 28-year-old righty-mashing corner outfielder has gone deep in back-to-back contests and has left the yard six times since the start of June.

Carpenter broke the game open with his 412-foot (105.3-mph EV) two-run shot off of Spencer Arrighetti in the third inning that increased the Tigers’ lead to 3-0. He struck out in each of his three other at-bats in the ballgame. For the season, the 28-year-old slugger is now hitting .220/.296/.470 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI.

The Tigers trailed by a run entering the sixth inning when Dillon Dingler smacked a leadoff single and Riley Greene worked a one-out walk. Carpenter then blooped a two-run double into center just in front of the outstretched glove of a diving Tristan Peters. That proved to be the difference in the ballgame. On the season, the 28-year-old slugger is now slashing .234/.313/.497 with 10 homers and 29 RBI in 166 plate appearances.