The Detroit Tigers got a big Game 1 win against the Seattle Mariners, and it came behind a good performance from Kerry Carpenter. He delivered a two-run homer against George Kirby to give the Tigers the lead in the game, which ended up turning into a 3-2 victory.
The pitch he hit from Kirby came on a 1-2 count and was a 97.1 MPH sinker. Carpenter hit to the right-field seats to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead, and it was the highest pitch that he hit for a home run in his Major League career.
“I was seeing him well tonight, especially after that first at-bat,” Carpenter said via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN. “I feel like I got my timing back a little bit. And I just wanted to make sure to get a good pitch to hit that at-bat, because they had a base open and I didn't know how they were going to pitch me. And so I felt like I was on time and had a good approach there.”
With Game 1 under their belt, Tarik Skubal is now set up to start Game 2.
“It's huge,” Carpenter said. “To get a win before the best pitcher in the world pitches is pretty special, and I feel like Skubal is made for these moments.”
The hope now is that the Tigers can continue their strong play so they can get another win and take more control of the series. The Mariners won't go away that easy, and they'll regroup and figure out what they need to do to get Game 2 and tie the series.
Luckily for the Tigers, Carpenter seems to do well in T-Mobile Park, and he has good stats when hitting against Kirby, which may have been the two biggest reasons why they were able to get the win to start the series.
