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Kerry Carpenter

They had a Cinderella run in 2024, coming seemingly from nowhere to win 15 of their final 19 games to grab the second American League Wild Card. In the postseason, the Detroit Tigers took the Cleveland Guardians to five games in the AL Division Series before bowing out.

This season, the Tigers have picked up where they left off, now occupying first place in the AL Central Division with a 15-10 record, one-half game ahead of Cleveland. On Wednesday, the Tigers blanked the visiting San Diego Padres, the team with the best record in baseball at 17-8, by a 6-0 score.

But missing from the lineup was outfielder Kerry Carpenter, who boasted the third-highest OPS on the team at .853, who was forced to leave Monday’s game against the Kansas City Royals in the ninth inning with what manager A.J. Hinch described as “right hamstring soreness.”

Carpenter was listed as day-to-day. He was in the lineup as the designated hitter for Tuesday’s series opener against San Diego but went hitless in four at bats as the NL West leaders cruised to a 2-0 victory.

Carpenter Just Latest Tigers Outfield to Go Down

The injury to the 27-year-old — an unlikely Major Leaguer as a 19th-round pick in 2019 out of Virginia Polytechnic — only highlights the against-all-odds quality of the Tigers’ winning run to open the season. Detroit has been battered by injuries since spring training, particularly to the outfield.

In fact, if Carpenter is required to make a trip to the injured list, which has not happened yet, he would become the fifth Tigers outfielder out of action due to injury. Parker Meadows has been out with a nerve injury in his right bicep since suffering the ailment in a spring training game on February 22.

On Friday, Meadows threw a baseball for the first time since that preseason game, but there is no date yet for his return to the lineup.

Then there’s Matt Vierling, who suffered a shoulder injury in spring training. Vierling, who doubles as a center fielder and third baseman, resumed throwing last week and is considered closer to a return than Meadows.

Knowing that they would be opening the season without Meadows or Vierling, shortly before the close of spring training the Tigers signed versatile veteran Manuel Margot, a 10-year veteran who moves among all three outfield positions, to a one-year, $1.3 million contract.

Pitching Staff Hurting As Well

But in April 8, Margot went on the 10-day injured list with a left knee patellar tendon strain. But 10 days later, on April 18, Margot had just resumed running.

Finally, backup outfielder Wenceel Pérez has been out all season with lumbar spine inflammation. Perez has received two cortisone injections to bring the swelling down, but remains on the 60-day injured list.

The Tigers pitching staff has also been beset by the injury outbreak. Righty reliever Beau Brieske went on the 15-day list last week due to inflammation in his right ankle. Another reliever, John Brebbia, who had allowed just one earned run in nine innings, also went on the 15-day list last week with a right triceps strain.

Alex Cobb, the former San Francisco Giants righty signed to a $15 million free agent deal in the offseason, missed all of spring training with hip inflammation and has still not taken the mound.