Kerry Carpenter blasted a three-run home run in the ninth inning as the Detroit Tigers stunned the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 to level their Major League Baseball playoff series on Monday.
Carpenter, 27, crushed a 423-foot two-out moonshot to right field off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase to settle what had been a nerve-shredding pitcher’s duel before the ninth inning drama.
It marked another fairytale chapter for Carpenter, who only made his Major League debut two years ago and was working part-time in a sporting goods store in 2020 as he chased his dream of breaking into the big leagues.
“I received a whole lot of God’s grace right there, and that’s about it — and I put a good swing on the ball,” Carpenter said afterwards of his winning homer. “It felt really good. I blacked out after I hit it.”
The Tigers, who stunned the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round last week, had been thrashed 7-0 by Cleveland in game one of the best-of-five American League Division Series on Saturday.
But a superb pitching performance from starter Tarik Skubal and some scintillating defense shut down the Cleveland offense to leave the game scoreless and on a knife edge heading into the ninth inning, setting up Carpenter’s moment of magic.
“Everybody out there is just fearless and we have a bunch of guys who can execute when they need it most,” Carpenter said.
Skubal pitched seven innings, with just three hits for no runs, to keep the Tigers in touch.
The Tigers host game three of the series in Detroit on Wednesday.
