CHICAGO (AP) — Riley Greene, Trey Sweeney and Kerry Carpenter homered, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 8-2 on Wednesday night.
Detroit won for the seventh time in nine games, bouncing back nicely after losing 3-1 to Chicago in the series opener on Tuesday. Greene, Sweeney, Carpenter and Parker Meadows, who had three hits from the leadoff spot, were among seven left-handed batters in the Tigers' starting lineup for the matchup with Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon.
“Pretty impressive offensive contribution from a lot of guys,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
Brant Hurter (1-1), the second of five Detroit pitchers, worked 3 2/3 innings for his first win in his fourth major league appearance. The 6-foot-6 left-hander was struck by Seiya Suzuki's comebacker in the sixth, but he stayed in the game for one more batter.
Chicago, which is trying to make up ground in the race for the third NL wild card, dropped to 10-7 in August. It had won three of four.
Christian Bethancourt hit a two-run homer off Hurter in the fifth, but the Cubs (62-65) left six runners on base on manager Craig Counsell's 54th birthday. Taillon (8-8) pitched five innings of six-hit ball.
“I feel like the first couple innings were a little out of character,” Counsell said of Taillon's outing. “The misses were a little bigger than usual and having a little hard time getting ahead of hitters, and they took advantage of it.”
The Tigers broke it open when they scored four runs in the ninth against Jack Neely in his big league debut. Greene singled home Zach McKinstry before Carpenter hit a three-run shot on a 3-0 fastball for his 12th homer of the season.
“I was just on the heater and, looking for it literally in a certain spot,” Carpenter said, “and if it's in that spot, I just want to go.”
Detroit (62-65) jumped in front on Sweeney's first homer in his third major league game. With Jace Jung aboard on a leadoff walk in the second, Sweeney drove a 2-1 curveball into the basket in center at Wrigley Field.
The ball bounced back onto the warning track and Sweeney stopped at third before the umpires confirmed it was a home run.
Sweeney, a first-round pick by the New York Yankees in the 2021 amateur draft, was acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers last month. The Louisville, Kentucky, native played college ball at Eastern Illinois and had his parents in the stands Wednesday night as part of a large contingent of supporters.
“It would have been cool anywhere, for sure,” Sweeney said of his first homer, “but definitely at Wrigley is pretty sweet.”
Greene capped Detroit's four-run second with his own two-run shot, a 422-foot drive into the bleachers in right-center for his 18th homer. It was the first hit for the All-Star slugger since he was activated from the injured list on Sunday after being sidelined by a right hamstring strain.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Reese Olson (shoulder strain) threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session. “He accomplished the next step, so now we've got to build volume and get him off the mound again in a few days and just continue the normal ramp back up,” Hinch said.
Cubs: LHP Jordan Wicks (right oblique strain) felt great after pitching four scoreless innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday. He threw 53 pitches, 34 for strikes. He is expected to make at least one more rehab start in the minors. ... RHP Hayden Wesneski (forearm strain) was scheduled for a bullpen session in Arizona on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Justin Steele (3-5, 3.10 ERA) pitches for Chicago on Thursday in the finale of the three-game series. The left-hander has a 1.23 ERA in 14 2/3 innings over three August starts. The Tigers hadn't announced their starting pitcher.
