Tigers overwhelm Angels with offensive outburst

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on May 4, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — AJ Hinch wasn’t accepting any bonus points for enduring a rugged patch of the schedule.

“There is no conceding to the schedule or the rigors or the grind or whatever,” he said before the Detroit Tigers took the finale and the series from the Los Angeles Angels with a 13-1 victory Sunday. “Our guys are built to handle it.”

It sure seems that way. Despite a list of double-digit injured players, the Tigers have come through a 23-game, 24-day stretch with a 15-8 record and an American League-best 22-13 record overall.

It was also just the third series win by the Tigers in Anaheim, covering 13 series dating to 2011.

Kerry Carpenter had a day. The slugging leadoff hitter recorded a career-best five RBIs with a two-run double in the second inning and a three-run, game-sealing home run in the sixth.

He led off the game with a single, leaving him a triple shy of a cycle. Both the double and homer came with two outs. Kerry Clutch.

His home run, off right-handed reliever Michael Darrell-Hicks, was his eighth and traveled 413 feet to dead center. The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 106.8 mph.

Carpenter had two cracks at the cycle. He struck out in the seventh and delivered his fourth hit of the game, a single, in the ninth.

Colt Keith had a big swing, too. He blasted a two-run home run to right-center against starter Jack Kochanowicz in the third inning. It was Keith’s third home run in the last five games.

Trey Sweeney one-upped Carpenter, producing a career-best six RBIs. He singled in a run in the second inning, slugged a three-run home run (third) in the seventh off reliever Jose Fermin and in the ninth poked a two-run single off reliever Touki Toussaint, capping the Tigers' season-high 13-run output.

Reese Olson gladly accepted the run support, though he didn’t need much. He shut the Angels down on three hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.

Over his last four starts, he’s allowed three runs with 27 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings. He improves to 4-2 and dropped his ERA to 3.03.

Olson strangled the Angels’ offense by mixing high-spin sliders (2,800-3,000 rmp) and changeups off sinkers and four-seam fastballs. He got eight swings and misses on 14 swings with the changeup, seven whiffs on 10 swings at the slider.

The Tigers are off Monday before finishing the trip with three games in Colorado. It will complete their time-zone cycle, having played in all four time zones over the last four series.

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