CHICAGO -- Detroit Tigers designated hitter Kerry Carpenter smashed three home runs against the White Sox on Monday night, becoming the first Tiger to accomplish that feat since Victor Martinez in 2016.
In all, the Tigers hit five home runs in their 13-1 blowout win over the last-place team in the AL Central.
"My swing, my timing was good," Carpenter said. "There was a lot of trust in my swing. That's kind of why things like tonight happen."
Carpenter, 27, hit home runs in his second, third and fourth at-bats after striking out in the second inning. He said it was the first time he has ever hit three home runs in a game at any level of baseball. He acknowledged he was going for a fourth home run in his final at-bat but flied out to center.
"I was trying," Carpenter said with a smile. "I was confident. I was trying to get a good pitch to hit. He threw a good one, but I was trying."
Carpenter is the third Tigers player in the past 20 seasons with three home runs and five RBIs in a game, joining Miguel Cabrera (2013) and J.D. Martinez (2015), according to ESPN Research.
Carpenter is the seventh player this season to hit three home runs in a game and third to accomplish it in the first six innings. He has six home runs in four games against Chicago this season, and has hit seven in 52 games against all other opponents.
"Those are special nights," Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. "I don't know how often anyone ever sees it, but when he gets good pitches to hit, he's as dangerous as anybody. It was nice to see him connect."
Carpenter's three home runs were part of a 16-hit barrage that included two from center fielder Parker Meadows, who was making his season debut after recovering from an arm injury. He doubled, tripled and scored three times while leading off for the first-place Tigers. A season-high 10 Tigers had a hit in the game.
Detroit also made some big plays on defense, including a sliding catch in the left-field corner by Riley Greene, a diving stop by Javier Baez at shortstop and a highlight-reel sequence when catcher Dillon Dingler attempted to catch a foul popup off the bat of White Sox right fielder Joshua Palacios. The ball popped out of Dingler's glove and hit the leg of third baseman Zach McKinstry before landing in his glove.
"I'm not sure McKinstry had it until he looked down," Hinch said. "Unique play and a big out. In a game full of fun things, that was one of them."