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CLEVELAND — Kerry Carpenter took one swing and floored baseball's preeminent closer. Carpenter connected for a three-run homer off Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning, sending the Detroit Tigers to a dramatic 3-0 win over the Guardians in Game 2 on Monday night. Carpenter drove a 2-2 pitch from usually unhittable Clase 423 feet into the right-field seats. It was another one of those October moments that can define a player, and the fact he did it off Clase wasn't lost on Carpenter. He's the first player to hit a two-out, two-strike homer in the ninth inning since Kirk Gibson's memorable shot off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
