Kerry Barrels: Carpenter's two home runs ignite Tigers' series-clinching win in Seattle

Seattle – Kerry Carpenter said he felt “freedom and peace” walking into the batter’s box on Friday.

“That helps me see the ball so much better,” he said.

It must look about the size of a beach ball right now.

After hitting a two-run home run in the first inning Friday, he doubled down on Saturday, blasting two more and igniting the Tigers’ 6-0 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

"I just want to keep it going," Carpenter said. "I just think my approach is good right now. My swing is good and I'm swinging at the right pitches."

Both home runs, his 10^th and 11^th, came against Seattle’s All-Star right-hander George Kirby. He lined an opposite-field solo home run to left leading off the second inning for the first Tigers run.

Then he capped a four-run fifth inning with a majestic, 431-foot, three-run blast into the seats in right field. Both home runs came off mid-90s fastballs. The first one was out over the plate and he smacked it to left field. The second was chin-high and probably out of the strike zone and he launched it to the pull side.

"I think that's a huge part of my game when I'm going right," Carpenter said. "I can use the opposite field for power. It was nice to see that."

And about launching the high heater?

"When I'm on time, I can get to that," he said.

It was the first multi-homer game of his young career.

"Nights like tonight are obviously why we love him," Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. "He can do a lot of damage. When he can hit multiple locations like he did tonight, he's a tough out."

Kerry Bonds. Kerry Barrels. He’s slugging his way into his nicknames.

"It's been pretty fun these last couple of days," Carpenter said. "We're playing up to our full potential. We can beat a lot of teams when we play up to our full potential."

Five of the Tigers' six runs were scored with two outs. In the third inning, Zach McKinstry doubled and scored on a single by Riley Greene.

Greene kept the fifth inning alive with a two-out walk. Spencer Torkelson delivered an RBI single ahead of Carpenter’s big blast.

Miguel Cabrera, who has hit safely in 18 of his last 25 games, rapped two, two-strike singles off Kirby. Both were off 96-mph fastballs.

"When we put at-bats together like we did tonight against a premium pitcher - Kirby is really good. He can do a lot of things with a baseball," Hinch said. "But we worked him quite hard and hit a couple of balls out of the park. Carp was locked in and we had a lot of other good at-bats, as well.

"Collectively, if we can continue to put those good at-bats together, we can be pretty productive. And when we get that kind of effort on the mound — it's a fun win."

It may not have looked like it, but Tigers All-Star righty Michael Lorenzen was grinding through 6.2 two-hit scoreless innings. He managed to keep his pitch count low despite five walks and tied his season high with seven strikeouts.

But he wasn't feeling as solid as he was pitching. Instead of a between-starts bullpen, he pitched a scoreless, high-leverage two-thirds of an inning in the All-Star Game on Tuesday. The adrenaline level wasn't quite the same Saturday.

"I told Haasey (catcher Eric Haase), 'Hey, it's me and you out there'" Lorenzen said. "'I need some encouragement because my mind is a little off and my body feels a little off. I feel sluggish. I need you to pump me up and get me going.' And he did an incredible job. I didn't shake him off once and I was feeding off his energy all night.

"We had a good thing going."

Haase, who doubled and scored in the fifth, waved off Lorenzen's hat-tip.

"He was very sharp tonight and he made my job easy back there," he said. "He was landing his secondary pitches, which allowed him to save his heater to finish off some guys later in the game. He was attacking and he took us deep into the game."

BOX SCORE: Tigers 6, Mariners 0

Lorenzen's five walks belied the overall efficiency of his performance. Two of the walks he deleted with double-play balls. He needed only 74 pitches to breeze through six innings. And he got the first two outs in the seventh in seven pitches. The subsequent walks to Eugenio Suarez and Cal Raleigh seemed anomalous.

"Those two at the end were my fault," Hinch said. "I probably should have gotten him out of there. He was pretty fatigued. But we wanted him to finish seven innings so badly because he earned the right."

Lorenzen was at 97 pitches and Hinch summoned right-hander Beau Brieske to end the inning. Brieske, who has spent most of the season on the injured list with a nerve issue in his right elbow, made his 2023 by punching out Mike Ford on four pitches to keep the zero on Lorenzen’s ledger.

Lorenzen hasn’t allowed an earned run in a career-long 14.2 straight innings, dating to June 30 in Colorado.

"I didn't feel good at all starting the game tonight," Lorenzen said. "My mind was wandering. To be able to lock in to Haasey and rely on him and his energy helped me out a ton."

Brieske was impressive, too. He got Ford to flail at a change-up after beating him with 97-mph heaters. After giving up a leadoff double to Kolton Wong to start the eighth, he got J.P. Crawford to pop out and struck out Julio Rodriguez (96-mph two-seamer) and Ty France (97-mph elevated four-seamer).

"I'm really happy for Beau," Hinch said. "He's worked really hard and he probably felt he was a long way away from here during his rehab."

So here are the Tigers, taking a series in Seattle to get to nine games under .500 (41-50) and still in shouting distance of the division lead. It's too soon to call this a team on a mission with the trade deadline approaching, but momentum is building.

"It's a big deal," Lorenzen said. "We have good pieces coming back. I feel like we're in a good spot. I feel pretty confident about the team we have here."

Twitter: @cmccosky