Kerry Carpenter homers, Detroit Tigers snap skid in 7-5 win over Guardians in Game 2

CLEVELAND — For the second time in 2022, the Detroit Tigers hammered back-to-back home runs, and after losing the past eight games (and 27 of 34 games since July 9), the Tigers finished in the win column.

Homers from veteran Jonathan Schoop and rookie Kerry Carpenter in the sixth inning carried the Tigers to a 7-5 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of Monday's doubleheader and the second of four games in the series at Progressive Field.

The Tigers (44-74) posted double-digit hits for the third time in August, with the offense responsible for 15 hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. Detroit lost Game 1 of the doubleheader, 4-1, on three hits, two walks and 13 strikeouts.

In the sixth inning, Schoop snapped a 3-3 tie with a solo home run off right-handed reliever Eli Morgan's changeup. The ball traveled 380 feet over the elevated left-field wall. On the next pitch, Carpenter ambushed a fastball and drove the ball 392 feet — with a 102.9 mph exit velocity — to right-center field.

The 24-year-old, who crushed 30 homers across 97 games in the minors, logged the first homer of his MLB career in his fourth game.

Carpenter went 3-for-4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Barnhart picked up three hits and two RBIs for his first three-hit game this season. He has 13 RBIs in 72 games this season. Victor Reyes had three hits, too, while Schoop and Willi Castro collected two hits.

Making his third start, right-hander Bryan Garcia completed six innings. The 27-year-old allowed three runs on five hits. He did not concede a walk and struck out five batters, throwing 61 of 88 pitches for strikes.

The Tigers' bullpen nearly squandered the two-run lead, but right-hander Joe Jiménez induced a crucial inning-ending double play in the seventh. He replaced righty José Cisnero — who allowed one run on two walks and a single and recorded just one out — and battled with Amed Rosario for six pitches with the game on the line.

On the sixth pitch, Rosario hit a grounder to shortstop Willi Castro.

Ahead 5-4, the Tigers tacked on two runs in the top of the eighth inning against righty reliever Bryan Shaw on RBI singles from Barnhart and Reyes. Back-to-back singles from Schoop and Carpenter made for a strong start to the inning.

Right-hander Alex Lange and left-handed closer Gregory Soto preserved the lead in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, though Soto allowed one run on two hits in the ninth to make it 7-5. The game ended on a double play.

Welcome to the majors

For doubleheaders, each team receives a 27th player, and both the Tigers and Guardians called up right-handed pitchers from the minor leagues for spot starts: Garcia for Detroit and 24-year-old Xzavion Curry for Cleveland.

It was Curry's MLB debut.

He allowed three runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts, throwing 47 of 72 pitches for strikes and recording 12 swings and misses. The Tigers whiffed at six sliders, four four-seam fastballs, one curveball and one cutter.

The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the second inning, as Carpenter — for his first-career extra-base knock — smoked a two-out double to center field. Barnhart drove him home with an RBI single to center field.

Barnhart struck again in the fifth inning with a leadoff single. Riley Greene added a one-out single to keep the line moving, and Reyes drove a two-strike curveball into right field for an RBI single. The Tigers tied the game, 3-3, when Willi Castro grounded into a force out.

Curry, a seventh-round pick in 2019, retired Javier Báez to complete the fifth and conclude his first MLB start. He had a 3.48 ERA in 19 games (17 starts) in the minor leagues this season, including a 3.09 ERA, 11 walks and 33 strikeouts in 32 innings for Triple-A Columbus.

Bryan's song

Through three innings, Garcia worked around a single and two hit batters.

In the fourth, though, the Guardians posted three runs on a pair of home runs. Andres Gimenez, who delivered a crucial three-run blast in Game 1, followed Owen Miller's single with a two-run home run off Garcia's changeup for a 2-1 lead.

The ball traveled 408 feet and was hit with a 104.6 mph exit velocity.

With two outs in the fourth, Luke Maile lined a first-pitch sinker from Garcia over the left-field wall for a solo home run and a 3-1 margin.

Garcia faced the minimum six batters in the fifth and sixth innings while pitching through the Guardians' lineup for a third time. Garcia struck out the final two batters he faced: Andres Gimenez (swinging, 92.6 mph sinker) and Oscar Gonzalez (swinging, 92.4 mph sinker).

For his 88 pitches, Garcia used 49 sinkers (56%), 20 sliders (23%) and 19 changeups (22%). He recorded eight swings and misses — four each with his sinker and slider — while executing 19 called strikes.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kerry Carpenter HRs, Detroit Tigers snap skid in 7-5 win in Cleveland