HOUSTON -- Tuesday was Peanuts Night at Daikin Park, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the longtime comic strip, and the Astros got into the festivities. For most of the afternoon leading up to the game, the giant video board showed a rotating graphic of Charlie Brown throwing a pitch and Snoopy hitting it deep.
Come game time, Kerry Carpenter took it to heart, but only after he unsuccessfully argued that Astros starter Ryan Gusto’s curveball had hit him on the back foot. Manager A.J. Hinch was ready to challenge, but the Tigers' dugout couldn’t bring up a replay of the pitch before the time ran out.
“That was a blessing,” said Carpenter, who hit the ensuing 2-2 fastball at the top of the zone into the right-field seats for his first leadoff home run and first hit to lead off a game. It helped Detroit build an early lead for the second consecutive night, only to watch it disappear again.
Two and a half hours later, Carpenter stepped to the plate as the potential last batter of the night, facing Astros closer Josh Hader. With Justyn-Henry Malloy and Andy Ibáñez having already been deployed as pinch-hitters, there was no question Carpenter would get the lefty-lefty matchup, even with left-handed batters batting just 1-for-10 with six strikeouts off Hader this season entering Tuesday.
Carpenter swung and missed a sinker on the inside edge, but pounced when Hader put a slider over the outer half of the plate, lining a double into the right-field corner and extending the game for Gleyber Torres’ two-run home run.
It wasn’t enough to overcome the Astros’ back-to-back three-run innings in the sixth and seventh for a 6-4 Tigers loss, handing Detroit its first back-to-back defeats since April 15-16 at Milwaukee. But it was enough to reinforce that Carpenter is heating up.
Carpenter wasn’t exactly busting a slump like teammate Riley Greene, but he was 0-for-14 before his two-run home run off Ronel Blanco in Monday’s series opener. With home runs in back-to-back games for the second time this season -- he homered three times in two days against the White Sox April 4-5 -- he’s heating up again after a few days getting back into the rhythm following a few days off with a mild hamstring strain.
Moreover, he’s settling into the leadoff spot against right-handed starters. Hinch put him up there with the third at-bat in mind, trying to force opposing managers to decide sooner whether to pull an effective starter for a lefty reliever. But the first at-bat of the night matters, too, and Carpenter is settling into that mindset. He was 0-for-5 leading off games before the home run.
“I don’t know if I was uncomfortable [with the role] before,” Carpenter said, “but there’s definitely some comfort now with it, kinda knowing that I don’t have to swing first pitch. It might not be a strike; they’re probably going to try to get me to chase a fastball or something like that. There’s definitely a comfort level with the fact that I’ve done it a lot now. I just want to do the job for my team.”
That spot, and the lineup in general, could change in the coming weeks as some of the dozen injured Tigers begin to work their way back to action. While the Tigers were unsuccessfully trying to hold off the Astros in Houston, Manuel Margot was on the road with the Toledo Mud Hens in Worcester, Mass., where he began a rehab assignment after three weeks out with a left patellar tendon strain. He went 1-for-3 with an RBI single as the DH.
Meanwhile, Matt Vierling -- whose rotator cuff muscle strain helped prompt the Tigers to sign Margot at the end of Spring Training -- received clearance from doctors in Detroit to ramp up his activity and throwing program with an eye towards a rehab assignment.
“Hopefully we’ll get a calendar made where he can get out to play pretty soon,” Hinch said.
Margot’s return will give the Tigers another experienced right-handed bat. But the way Carpenter has handled lefties so far this season -- now 6-for-23 with two homers, a double and three RBIs -- it’s no longer an automatic to bat for him with a lefty on the mound.
Vierling’s eventual return could have a bigger impact. When he’s on his game, he tends to bat in the top half of the order, even against righties. Weighing his impact against the matchup advantages of Carpenter in the leadoff spot could be among the many points of discussion among Tigers staff as a team that has played well despite injuries gets healthier.
Carpenter will hit wherever he’s in the lineup. The Tigers will have to figure out how early in a game they want him to do it.