Carpenter hits 3 homers as the Tigers reach 40 wins by pounding the White Sox 13-1
CHICAGO (AP) — Kerry Carpenter hit a career-high three homers and drove in five runs to help the Detroit Tigers pound the lowly Chicago White Sox 13-1 on Monday night.
Dillon Dingler and Wenceel Pérez also went deep as Detroit became the first major league team to reach 40 wins this season. Parker Meadows had two hits and scored three times in his season debut after being sidelined by an arm injury.
Jack Flaherty (4-6) pitched six innings of one-run ball in his second straight win. The right-hander allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one.
The Tigers improved to 22-9 in their last 31 games. It was their 11th consecutive win at the White Sox dating to Sept. 1, 2023, matching a franchise record for the longest such streak in an opponent’s ballpark.
Chicago finished with five hits in its seventh loss in eight games. Chase Meidroth singled and scored on Vinny Capra’s groundout in the sixth, accounting for the team’s only run.
Carpenter hit a two-run drive in Detroit’s three-run first against Jonathan Cannon (2-7). He connected for another two-run shot in the fourth and a solo drive in the sixth for his 13th homer on the season.
He batted again with two runners on in the eighth. Amid chants of “Kerry! Kerry!” by the Tigers fans in a crowd of 11,852, he flied out to center.
Detroit also had a big night in the field.
Meadows robbed Andrew Benintendi of a run-scoring hit with a diving catch in center for the last out of the first. Riley Greene hustled over for a terrific sliding grab on Meidroth’s drive near the line in left in the third.
But catcher Dingler and third baseman Zach McKinstry combined for what might have been the team’s best defensive play in the fifth. Dingler slid as he went after Joshua Palacios’ foul popup and the ball went off his glove to McKinstry for the out.
Key moment
Pérez’s two-run homer in the second lifted the Tigers to a 5-0 lead.
Key stat
Carpenter became the first player to hit three homers for Detroit since Victor Martinez on June 16, 2016, at Kansas City.
Up next
Detroit is going with a bullpen day on Tuesday. Rookie right-hander Shane Smith (1-3, 2.68 ERA) starts for Chicago.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
By JAY COHEN
AP Baseball Writer
