Detroit Tigers outfielder exits game early with an injury

The Detroit Tigers series victory over the Minnesota Twins may have just come at a cost.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Tigers’ right fielder Kerry Carpenter hit a ball screaming down the right field line. As soon as Carpenter started to round the bases, he immediately began to grimace in pain.

While the ball bounced around the corner for enough time for Carpenter to slide into third for an RBI triple, he got up in noticeable pain and quickly exited the game. The injury appears to be a hamstring injury, according to MLive Tigers writer Evan Woodbery in an X (formerly Twitter) post.

“Kerry Carpenter just tripled into the right field corner, but he's leaving the game. Almost certainly the hamstring. You could see him grimacing a bit as he slid into third, and A.J. Hinch came out of the dugout immediately,” Woodbery’s post said.

Before the injury, Carpenter’s performance was a continuation of the great week he has been having. Carpenter got Detroit on the board first with a solo homer to right center field. It was his second consecutive game with a home run and his third in the past five games.

Carpenter went 2-for-4 in Saturday’s 10-4 win over Minnesota and started Sunday 2-for-3 before leaving the game. The severity of his injury is not yet known. Carpenter now is hitting at .252 with 16 home runs and 32 RBIs this season.

With Carpenter more than likely needing to miss time, Detroit will likely go with Wenceel Perez in right field for the time being.