Kerry Carpenter blasts Detroit Tigers to 6-4 win over Royals with three-run home run

The Detroit Tigers returned to Comerica Park on Monday after winning three games against the Minnesota Twins, the best team in the weak American League Central, in a four-game series at Target Field.

But the lowly Kansas City Royals, by far the worst team in the AL Central and the second-worst team in the AL (ahead of the Oakland Athletics), threatened to pause the Tigers' momentum until Kerry Carpenter's go-ahead home run with two strikes and two outs in the seventh inning.

The Tigers won, 6-4, in Monday's series opener.

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Although the Tigers (31-40) have improved on offense in the past 10 games, they failed to string together a series of competitive plate appearances against Royals right-hander Jordan Lyles for most of the game.

Entering Monday, Lyles had an 0-11 record and a 6.89 ERA in 14 starts.

The Tigers scored their first run in the fifth inning, thanks to a two-out defensive blunder by left fielder Edward Olivares, but didn't have another scoring opportunity for two more innings.

A five-run seventh changed everything.

Back-to-back hits from Miguel Cabrera (single) and Jonathan Schoop (double) put two runners in scoring position and chased Lyles from his 15th start. Right-handed reliever Taylor Clarke couldn't escape the no-out jam, as Jake Rogers poked a two-strike sweeper into left field.

Cabrera and Schoop scored on Rogers' single to cut the Tigers' deficit to 4-3.

Later on, the Tigers had runners on first and second base for Spencer Torkelson in the seventh inning.

Torkelson struck out looking on Clarke's down-and-away changeup, which clipped the bottom of the strike zone, and expressed his displeasure to home plate umpire Will Little about the call.

With two outs, Carpenter saved the Tigers and completed the comeback with a three-run home run for a 6-4 lead. He battled Clarke for five pitches, and with two strikes, the left-handed slugger didn't miss a poorly executed changeup that ended up in the heart of the strike zone.

The ball traveled 381 feet to right field.

It was Carpenter's sixth home run this season and his second homer in as many games.

Lyles, who signed a two-year, $17 million contract in the offseason, allowed three runs on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts. He limited hard contact by mixing six pitches but primarily relied on two pitches: an 82 mph sweeper and a 92.5 mph four-seam fastball.

Clarke was charged with the other three runs.

Four runs off the kid

In his fourth MLB appearance, right-hander Reese Olson displayed his entire swing-and-miss arsenal en route to eight strikeouts. The Royals capitalized on his mistakes, and one defensive mistake from shortstop Zack Short, en route to four runs.

Olson allowed two home runs in the fourth inning.

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Bobby Witt Jr., one of the best young hitters in baseball, clobbered his 12th home run — a 442-foot solo homer to left-center field — to begin the fourth inning. He hit a third-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate.

The Royals teed off on Olson's four-seam fastball — putting five balls in play with an average exit velocity of 97 mph — as the rookie generated just one of his 15 whiffs with his fastball. He got 13 called strikes with his fastball, though.

After MJ Melendez walked, Maikel Garcia hammered a first-pitch slider at the bottom of the strike zone with two outs in the fourth inning. His two-run home run, which traveled 411 feet to left field, extended the Royals' lead to 3-0.

Kansas City's fourth run, for a 4-0 advantage, occurred with two outs in the fifth inning. Witt hit a grounder to Short — the starting shortstop with Javier Báez getting day off for rest — and reached safely.

Short threw the ball past Torkelson, the first baseman, and was charged with his first error of the season, which allowed Nick Pratto to score from second base.

Olson, who turns 24 at the end of July, allowed four runs (three earned runs) on six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts, throwing 63 of 100 pitches for strikes. He logged 15 whiffs with one fastball, seven sliders, six changeups and one sinker.

His fastball averaged 94.8 mph.

Alex Lange bounces back

The Tigers turned to left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander following Olson's departure.

He pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Alexander retired back-to-back batters — Melendez (strikeout) and Olivares (forceout) — to strand runners on the corners in the eighth inning.

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In the ninth inning, the Tigers went to right-handed reliever Alex Lange to protect a 6-4 advantage.

Lange, the Tigers' de facto closer, came into Monday's appearance with a 22.50 ERA, five walks and four strikeouts in four innings across eight games in June. He crumbled in Sunday's eighth inning, hitting two batters and walking two batters, before righty reliever Jason Foley cleaned up his mess.

This time, Lange didn't make a mess.

He retired all three batters he faced for his 11th save.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat Royals, 6-4, thanks Kerry Carpenter 3-run HR