CLEVELAND — The biggest question in Detroit in the last 48 hours was answered in the top of the fifth inning when Kerry Carpenter emerged from the Detroit Tigers' dugout with a helmet on and bat in hand.
Carpenter, who led the team with a .932 OPS this season, was a question mark coming into the winner-take-all Game 5 in Cleveland after he left Game 4 early with a hamstring injury and was ruled a game-time decision . He sat the first four innings before manager A.J. Hinch called his name to bat second in the fifth with the score tied, 0-0.
"These guys in the clubhouse is pretty much who I fight for," Carpenter said postgame. "If I could go, I wanted to go for them. That was the driving reason I wanted to be here for this team if I could contribute."
The move paid off in the moment even though Carpenter was clearly still hobbled. The lefty came up with Trey Sweeney on first and no outs facing right-handed reliever Andrew Walters. Carpenter watched three balls to reach the most advantageous count and then missed a fastball down the middle to go to 3-1.
He didn't miss twice. Walters pumped another fastball to a similar spot and Carpenter crushed a line drive that one-hopped off the wall in right-center field to plate Sweeney from first and give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Carpenter slowly jogged to first with a limp for a 370-foot RBI single.
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"I had a lot of adrenaline so I was basically giving it everything I got," Carpenter said.
He had another chance during a big moment later but came up empty. The Tigers fell behind 5-1 after Lane Thomas' grand slam in the fifth inning and had a chance at an immediate rebuttal in the sixth. The Tigers pushed one run across and had the bases loaded with two outs with Carpenter coming to the plate, but he chased a high fastball from Hunter Gaddis for strike three to end the threat.
The Tigers managed just one more run in the final three innings of the 7-3 Game 5 loss to fall in the ALDS.
Carpenter got three at-bats in the game in the DH spot as Hinch found a way to maximize his involvement despite dealing with the hamstring issue. The Tigers manager said postgame he knew Carpenter would be able to contribute as a pinch-hitter.
"The debate in my head going into the game was where is the big at-bat going to come where you either need to extend your lead, get a lead (or) come from behind," Hinch said. "And then when Sweeney led off with a walk, that's as good a time as ever in the DH spot, which now I knew I was going to get a couple of spots, hopefully get a couple at-bats out of him. I know how uncomfortable it was for him. He came up really big with that spot and was able to squeeze three at-bats from him on a day where when I got to the ballpark, I didn't know if he would do anything."
He got his final at-bat in the eighth inning against Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland's elite closer who gave up the game-winning home run to Carpenter in Game 2, and struck out swinging. Clase stared him down as both of them returned to the dugout. It ended up being Carpenter's final at-bat of the 2024 season.
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Carpenter and the rest of the Tigers watched from the first-base dugout as Cleveland stormed onto the field in celebration after the ninth. It all has him excited to return healthy and build to the next step with the rest of Detroit's young core.
"I think everybody in this organization is really excited and I think we put the world on notice that we can do big things in this clubhouse with these guys."
Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering the city's professional teams, the state's two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22 , and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Adrenaline powered Kerry Carpenter's quick return to Tigers' lineup in ALDS Game 5 loss
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