Detroit Tigers, Game 8: One thing I loved, one thing I didn't
The News' Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers' game against the Cardinals on Saturday.
Detroit ā The News' Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 11-6 rain-shortened victory over the Cardinals on Saturday: One thing I loved Newsflash: A Tiger not named Dillon Dingler has homered in 2026. Kerry Carpenter, off to awful start (. 091 with 12 strikeouts through six games), got things started in the first inning with a two-run opposite-field home run off Dustin May ( who's no Dusty May ) that sent the Tigers on their way back to .
500. It was just Detroit's third homer of the year. They made up for lost time.
Later, Zach McKinstry hit the fourth (on 0-2), Gleyber Torres the fifth (oppo taco), and Matt Vierling the sixth (through a hurricane). Carpenter showed some country-strong in flicking the bat at a 91-mph change-up and flipping it into the bullpen. It traveled 359 feet ā Colt Keith hit two balls much farther in Arizona, and neither left the yard ā but a homer's a homer.
Carpenter snapped his longest homerless drought to start a season, by games started: 2022: First homer in fourth start 2023: First homer in seventh start 2024: First homer in second start 2025: First homer in sixth start 2026: First homer in eighth start Carpenter had one RBI coming into the game, then had three in his first two trips to the plate Saturday. He tacked on with a sacrifice fly to shallow center in the third, scoring Kevin McGonigle , who led off with a single. HELLO KERRY BONDS pic.