Kerry Carpenter hit two home runs in his return from injury, Jake Rogers drove in seven runs, and pitcher Tarik Skubal picked up his MLB-leading 14th win as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Seattle Mariners 15-1 on Tuesday night.
“I was getting chills before the game just from seeing the guys and getting back out here,” said Carpenter, who had been sidelined since May 26 due to a stress fracture in his back. “It was really tough not being on the field, so this is a lot better.”
Rogers contributed with two runs driven in by a double in the third inning, a grand slam in the fourth, and an RBI double in the sixth. He became the first Tigers player with seven RBIs in a game since Ryan Raburn did it against the Chicago White Sox on July 25, 2007.
The Tigers scored a season-high 15 runs and had a season-best 21 hits. This win was their second in a row and their fourth in seven games.
Skubal pitched six innings, allowing one run on three hits. The 27-year-old left-hander struck out nine, raising his season total to a league-leading 180, walked one batter, and hit two batters. Joey Wentz finished the game with three scoreless innings to earn his first MLB save.
Skubal found it challenging to stay focused during Detroit’s long offensive innings.
“That’s tough, but you are never going to complain about getting 15 runs,” he said. “We have really missed (Carpenter) — he has a special bat.”
In his last start, Skubal had also limited the Mariners to two runs in seven innings while striking out nine.
“That’s twice seeing Tarik Skubal in six days, which is tough,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I’ve been in this league a long time seeing left-handed pitching and he’s as good as you are going to see.”
Seattle’s George Kirby (8-9) had his worst MLB start, giving up career highs in runs (11) and hits (13) over 3 2/3 innings.
“I thought George’s stuff was pretty good early, but he obviously made some mistakes as they extended some innings,” Servais said. “We could have made some plays, too. They had six infield hits and we had five of them in our gloves.”
