Kerry

Carpenter

As is often the case, Carpenter and Colt Keith find themselves starting on the bench against an opposing left-hander, in this case it’s MacKenzie Gore taking the hill for the Rangers. Jahmai Jones will start in his place in left field and will bat third for the Tigers on Friday evening in Motown.

The Tigers held a 5-3 advantage in the seventh inning when a lengthy rain delay struck. When play resumed, the Reds struck for four runs in the home half of the seventh to take a 7-5 advantage. The Tigers stormed right back in the eighth as Spencer Torkelson crushed a solo homer to pull the Tigers within a run. Carpenter then launched a first-pitch fastball from Tony Santillan for a go-ahead 368-foot (97.8 mph EV) two-run shot. He finished the evening 1-for-2. On the season, the 28-year-old slugger is slashing just .221/.321/.500 with six homers and 15 RBI.

The homer came in the eighth inning and gave Detroit an insurance run entering the final frame. Wednesday’s game was the first this season in which Carpenter started against a left-hander, even if it was a multi-inning opener scenario ahead of Chad Patrick. Carpenter now has five homers on the year, but he’s striking out over 36 percent of the time early on.

Carpenter brought the first run in to score in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk. He added one more in the fourth, taking Brayan Bello deep for a solo homer to right field. Carpenter later added a base hit in the eighth, reaching for a third time. The 28-year-old slugger had been off to a relatively slow start, but is now up to four home runs while slashing .218/.318/.455 with 12 RBI across 66 plate appearances.

Carpenter will take a seat with left-hander Ranger Suarez toeing the slab for the Red Sox. Jahmai Jones will function as the team’s designated hitter and will bat third for the Tigers on Friday night.

His removal came after he gifted Vinnie Pasquantino a triple in the eighth. Carpenter dropped the fly to right-center because he was distracted by center fielder Wenceel Pérez, who was also in line to make a play on the ball before backing off a little too late. Especially with Parker Meadows out, it’d be nice if Carpenter could play in the outfield regularly against righties, which leads to a stronger infield defense with Zach McKinstry at third and Colt Keith DHing. However, as poorly as Carpenter has fared so far, using him at DH, Keith at third and McKinstry in the outfield might be a better alignment.

Carpenter is back in right field and batting cleanup on Wednesday night at Target Field following a two-game absence due to a stomach bug. The 28-year-old slugger is off to a slow start at the plate, hitting .188 (6-for-32) with two homers and six RBI through 10 games this season.

Carpenter will miss his second straight contest as he deals with a stomach bug. It’ll be Zach McKinstry taking over in right field with Colt Keith at DH and occupying the leadoff spot.

It’s rare to see Carpenter take a night off against a right-handed starter and now we know why. The 28-year-old corner outfielder takes a seat with Matt Vierling drawing into the lineup. He should be ready to return in a couple days once he’s feeling better.

The hope for fantasy managers is that this type of effort finally gets Carpenter going after an ice-cold start to the year that seems to have cost him the leadoff spot. The 28-year-old slugger took Cardinals starter Dustin May deep for a two-run homer in the opening frame before adding a sacrifice fly a couple frames later. He stands to benefit from a run-producing opportunity standpoint hitting in the middle of Detroit’s lineup with young standouts Colt Keith and Kevin McGonigle getting on-base consistently.