DETROIT — Kerry Carpenter matched a career-high with four hits and the Detroit Tigers kept their improbable wild-card hopes alive with a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who can swing it, and we’re swinging it well right now,” Carpenter said. “When we are at our best, we can do it all.”
Carpenter came up in the seventh needing a homer for the cycle — the first for a Tiger since Carlos Guillen in 2006 — but hit an infield single.
“I was aware,” he said. “I was hoping to get a pitch I could do some damage on, but it didn’t happen.”
Tigers starter Casey Mize allowed four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out seven without walking a batter.
Tyler Holton (6-1) got the win with two scoreless innings of relief and Jason Foley got his 22nd save with a scoreless ninth.
“I like bringing Tyler Holton into the game every time,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of his standout reliever, who has posted a 2.23 ERA in a role that has seen him work as everything from an opener to a closer.
Tanner Gordon (0-6) took the loss, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings. In his last two starts, the rookie has allowed 12 runs on 18 hits in four innings.
“He got ahead of a lot of guys, but he couldn’t put them away,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “That’s a rookie pitcher and a rookie catcher, so it is going to be the school of hard knocks at times, but it is an education.
“Tanner is learning a lot.”
Riley Greene and Trey Sweeney homered for Detroit (75-71), which improved to 20-8 since Aug. 11. They are three games behind the Minnesota Twins for the last American League wild-card spot after both teams won on Tuesday.
“It’s definitely exciting this time of year,” Holton said. “Last year was a different situation.”
The 2023 Tigers finished second in the American League Central — they are currently fourth — but their 78-84 record left them out of the wildcard race.
One night after beating the Rockies 11-0, the Tigers got off to another flying start with six runs in the first. Greene hit his 21st homer, Carpenter had an RBI triple and scored, and Sweeney hit a three-run homer.
Ryan McMahon led off the second with a home run to get the Rockies on the board, but Greene made it 7-1 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Colorado rallied with three runs in the fifth.
Jake Cave and Nolan Jones led off with singles, and after Mize retired the next two batters, Ezequiel Tovar hit a two-run double to right-center. Brenton Doyle followed with an RBI single, making it 7-4 and bringing Holton out of the Tigers bullpen.
“I started better than I finished, that’s for sure,” Mize said. “The important thing is that we won.”
Doyle stole second, but Greene caught McMahon’s foul fly to left before flipping it over the railing and into the crowd.
Holton, Will Vest and Foley finished the game with 4 1/3 shutout innings.
“Our bullpen put up four zeroes and kept us in the game,” Black said. “We just couldn’t solve their guys.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Reese Olson, on the injured list since July 21 with a shoulder injury, is expected to throw a bullpen Thursday at which point the team will determine the next steps. Shortstop Javier Báez, who underwent season-ending hip surgery last week, used a cane to walk to the outfield for a team picture before the game.
UP NEXT
The teams finish the three-game series Thursday afternoon with Tigers ace LHP Tarik Skubal (16-4, 2.53) facing RHP Ryan Feltner (2-10, 4.96).