The Detroit Tigers open a six-game road trip with a series at the Washington Nationals that begins Tuesday night.
Detroit, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball (53-32), has won three of four after taking the rubber game of their series against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday night.
However, outfielder Kerry Carpenter left the game in the fifth inning after feeling a sensation in his hamstring while legging out an RBI triple.
“He felt that same sensation that he’s felt,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Carpenter, who has been dealing with hamstring tightness this season. “When Kerry hit it he probably thought double, and then saw that he could get it into a triple, and he felt that sensation.”
Carpenter said he did not know if he would be ready for Tuesday. He went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs in the 3-0 win. He is hitting .257 with 16 home runs, 32 RBIs and 40 runs.
Detroit right-hander Jack Flaherty (5-9, 4.80 ERA) will oppose Washington right-hander Trevor Williams (3-9, 5.65 ERA) in the opener.
After two poor outings (15 earned runs in seven innings), Flaherty rebounded somewhat his last time out. Against the Athletics, he gave up three runs on five hits over six innings of a 3-0 loss. He struck out seven and walked four.
Flaherty is 4-1 with a 3.78 ERA in six starts against the Nationals.
Williams went 0-4 with a 5.55 ERA in June and did not complete six innings in any of his five starts. Last time out, he gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings of a loss to the San Diego Padres.
Williams is 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in five starts versus Detroit.
The Nationals completed a respectable Southern California road trip with a 7-4, 11-inning win at the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
And after seeing their bats mostly dormant during June, Washington scored 24 runs in three games against the Angels.
On Sunday, closer Kyle Finnegan pitched three innings for the win.
“We haven’t done as well as we’d like in the wins department this road trip,” Finnegan said. “But I feel like we’ve played pretty good baseball. So, to win a game like this — last game of a long road trip away from home, guys away from their families, grind one out in extra innings — I feel like it’s good for our morale.”
The Angels intentionally walked James Wood in four consecutive plate appearances, making the 22-year-old the first major leaguer to be intentionally walked four times in a game since Barry Bonds in 2004.
The Nationals snapped a streak of seven consecutive series lost. They finished their trip with a 4-5 record, three of those losses coming by one run.
“They played hard the whole game,” manager Dave Martinez said of his team. “Finnegan, he looked like a starter out there today. The boys battled, and they played really hard. I loved the energy, especially late in the game.”
In Detroit, Tarik Skubal allowed one hit and struck out 13 in seven innings. Riley Greene joined Carpenter in hitting a solo home run.
“He’s not a secret,” Hinch said of Skubal, who is 10-0 in his past 15 starts. “He generally gets a lot of swing-and-miss, but he’s in the strike zone.”
–Field Level Media
