Detroit Tigers at Baltimore Orioles

· Major League Baseball

Detroit Tigers

82-74, 43-38 Away

Final
4 - 3

Baltimore Orioles

86-70, 44-37 Home

Tigers gain ground in AL wild card race as Carpenter, Meadows key 4-3 win over Orioles

Kerry Carpenter crushes 2 homers for the Tigers

Carpenter’s third multi-home run game of the season ensured the Tigers their first winning season since 2016 as Detroit (82-74) matched Kansas City (82-74) and moved a half-game in front of Minnesota (81-74) for the final AL wild card spot.

“We still have a long way to go, so we’re going to stay grounded,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “But both things can happen — we can be proud of what we’re doing and we can stay grounded and look forward to the next series."

The Twins, who won the season series 7-6 with the Tigers, have the second game of their doubleheader in Boston later Sunday. The Twins would finish ahead of the Tigers if they finish with the same record.

The Tigers have won 11 of their last 14.

Baltimore (86-70) lost its fifth consecutive series and fell 5 1/2 games behind New York (91-64) in the AL East race with six to play but is still four games ahead of Kansas City and Detroit for the top wild card spot.

“We had a great chance to win last night, didn't get it done,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “We had a chance today also. I thought we just had some unfortunate breaks today.”

Spencer Torkelson homered off Orioles right-hander Albert Suarez (8-7) and Trey Sweeney contributed an RBI double as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead.

Carpenter hit the first of his two homers in the third to make it 3-0.

Cedric Mullins connected with a two-run shot for Baltimore. Jordan Westburg added an RBI double in his first game since July 31 (right wrist fracture) to complete a three-run fifth and tie things up at 3-3.

The damage would’ve been greater without Meadows’ leaping grab over the wall in right-center to deny Colton Cowser a two-run homer off Sean Guenther (2-0) and end the inning.

“I was getting ready to jump at the wall,” said Carpenter, who was in right field with Meadows in center. “And then I saw him. He was locked on that thing.”

Carpenter led off the sixth with his second deep shot and 17th of the season, which cleared the front of the grounds crew shed in right by a few feet.

“It’s huge,” Carpenter said. “They could’ve taken a two-run lead and then two minutes later I hit the homer and we’re up by one. So it changes the entire game.”

From there, Brenan Hanifee and Will Vest bridged the gap to Jason Foley, who worked a perfect ninth for his 26th save.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Tigers: INF Colt Keith (right shoulder) made his first defensive start since Tuesday, playing second base. ... Hanifee took Ramon Urías' sixth-inning liner off the left thigh but remained in the game.

Orioles: Reinstated Westburg and Urías (right ankle sprain) from the 10-day injured list and optioned OF Daniel Johnson and INF Livan Soto to Triple-A Norfolk.

Tigers: Will return to using a conventional starter to begin a home series against Tampa Bay on Tuesday when AL Cy Young contender Tarik Skubal (17-4, 2.48 ERA) makes his 31st start.

Orioles: Dean Kremer (7-10, 4.19) will try to complete six-plus innings for a fourth consecutive start to open Tuesday's series at the New York Yankees.

How can I watch Detroit Tigers vs. Baltimore Orioles?

TV Channel: Tigers at Orioles 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Matchup Prediction

Orioles: 58.3%

Tigers: 41.7%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Henderson struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Mullins flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Urías lined out to center.
	9th Inning	Foley relieved Vest
	9th Inning	McKinstry at third base.
	9th Inning	Rogers grounded out to third.

Statistics

DET		BAL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
9	Ground Balls	13
11	Strikeouts	10
4	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
5	Hits	6
0	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	5
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	3
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
32	At Bats	32
3	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
10	Runners Left On Base	16
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	2
12	Fly Balls	9
0	Caught Stealing	0
145	Pitches	146
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
16	Total Bases	11
36	Plate Appearances	37
486.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
5	Extra Base Hits	3
4.3	Runs Created	3.6
.156	Batting Average	.188
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.500	Slugging Percentage	.344
.438	Secondary Average	.313
.250	On Base Percentage	.297
.750	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.641
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.4
4.3	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.7
34.0	Batter Rating	25.0
10.7	At Bats Per Home Run	32.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.03	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.95
.344	Isolated Power	.156
0.27	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.50
.083	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.135
.281	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.125
8.0	Runs Produced	6.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.1	Balls In Play Average	0.2
79.5	MLB Rating	74.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0