The Detroit Tigers hit three home runs in a span of five plate appearances against Los Angeles Angels right-hander Johnny Cueto, with the three homers combining for 1,272 feet.

All of them were long homers to center field.

Jake Rogers hit a first-pitch fastball 422 feet; Riley Greene hit a middle-middle sinker 425 feet; Kerry Carpenter hit a middle-down changeup 425 feet.

The three homers, headlined by Rogers’ go-ahead swing in the fifth inning, led to a 6-2 win over the Angels in Tuesday’s opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park. The game didn’t start until 9:25 p.m., rather than 6:40 p.m., because of a rain delay.

“It’s huge,” Rogers said. “Those are big at-bats. I tried to get things going there at the bottom of the lineup and get it up to those guys, Murderers’ Row. Every homer is a good homer.”

The Tigers (67-66) have won five games in a row, exceeding a .500 record for the first time since June 4. The Tigers are 5½ games back of the final spot in the American League wild-card.

They have a 12-3 record in their past 15 games.

“It’s awesome, where we’re at as a team,” Greene said. “We’re not going to change a thing. We’re going to go out there and try to win every game we can.”

Three long homers benefited the Tigers, but not before they took advantage of mistakes from the Angels in the fourth inning, scoring their first two runs of the game.

The Angels made defensive mistakes on Parker Meadows’ triple, Matt Vierling’s RBI double and Kerry Carpenter’s RBI single, but only one error was charged on the three misplays. Regardless, the Tigers grabbed a 2-1 lead.

After the Angels answered back, the Tigers crushed three home runs off Cueto across the fifth and sixth innings.

“He was going to pump strikes,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Johnny Cueto has been a strike-thrower, and he can changes shapes, and he does the shimmy, and he disrupts timing. As a young team, we warned our guys that he’s going to be in full shimmy mode. He didn’t do it quite as much as I anticipated, mostly because we got a few guys on and he was getting really quick outs. We wanted to be aggressive against him.”

Rogers put the Tigers ahead, 3-2, with a two-out solo home run to center field in the fifth. In the sixth, Greene hit a solo homer and Carpenter hit a two-run homer, making it 6-2.

Greene has 19 home runs in 108 games.

“I tell them all the time, ‘If Rog can do it, anybody can do it,’” Rogers said. “It’s fun when you win. It definitely helps when you score a lot of runs.”

The homer from Carpenter chased Cueto, a 17-MLB veteran who allowed six runs on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts across five-plus innings, throwing 83 pitches. It was the second start in the big leagues this season, following 13 starts in the minor leagues.

[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

First time starting

Left-hander Brant Hurter — who started 18 of 19 games in Triple-A Toledo — appeared in four games as a long reliever to begin his MLB career, but he started Tuesday for the first time.

Hurter, who turns 26 in early September, gave up two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts, throwing 80 pitches. He found success against a lineup with a lot of right-handed hitters, even without a premier pitch to get righties out.

“It wasn’t too different,” Hurter said. “A lot of lineups I’ve faced take all their lefties out because I’m better against lefties, so it wasn’t something too new. It was one lefty. I think I did that in Triple-A, so it wasn’t anything crazy.”

RACKING UP WINS: Detroit Tigers haven’t been .500 this late into season since 2016

The Angels scored one run apiece in the first and fifth innings, thanks to Nolan Schanuel’s RBI single in the first and Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Hurter retired 10 batters in a row from one out in the first inning through two outs in the fourth inning. He also stranded two runners in scoring position in the first inning, which he advanced with a balk, when he struck out Anthony Rendon looking with a sweeper that painted the corner of the strike zone.

Hurter has a 3.57 ERA with three walks and 21 strikeouts across 22.2 innings in five games (one start) in his MLB career.

“I wasn’t too happy with my outing,” Hurter said. “I wasn’t landing my offspeed at all. I was getting away with the sinker. I don’t think I pitched well by any means.”

After Hurter, the Tigers picked up scoreless efforts from right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee, right-handed reliever Shelby Miller and right-handed reliever Jason Foley. In the ninth, Foley recorded the final out after Miller allowed two batters to reach safely with two outs.

Hanifee retired all eight batters he faced, covering 2⅔ innings.

“He can really go into attack mode with the two-seam, four-seam and an occasional slider,” Hinch said. “Eight up, eight down was really the key outs of the game. When I took Hurter out, that’s a lot of game left and a lot of pitching that needed to be used.”

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

It didn’t take long for the Detroit Lions to find help for their receiving corps.

The Lions are expected to sign veteran receiver Tim Patrick to their practice squad, ESPN reported Tuesday.

Patrick was released by the Denver Broncos as part of their cut down to a 53-player roster Tuesday. As a vested veteran, he is not subject to waivers.

The 30-year-old Patrick has spent parts of the past seven seasons with the Broncos, but missed the 2022-23 seasons with ACL and Achilles injuries. In 2021, he caught a career-high 53 passes for 734 yards and five touchdowns, and adds size (6 feet 4, 212 pounds) and a deep-play element to the Lions offense.

DAVE BIRKETT: Lions cut backup QB Nate Sudfeld: Here’s why it’s a wise move

The Lions kept just four receivers at Tuesday’s NFL roster deadline: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond and undrafted rookie Isaiah Williams. Jameson Williams is the only receiver taller than 6 feet.

Lions coach Dan Campbell acknowledged Monday the Lions were undersized at the position, but said adding a bigger receiver was not imperative for the offense.

“I wouldn’t say (not having one) limits us, but like any offense or defense, man, you want, ‘Give us everything,’” Campbell said. “If you can have it all, then you can use it all. But no, it’s not going to limit what we do. It would be a luxury to have.”

The Lions have one open spot on their 53-man roster, and could use that to add a player off waivers or another veteran, or save it for Patrick.

[ Lions fans: Get ready for this season by reliving the team’s epic 2023 season with a new book from the Free Press, “From Grit to Glory.” Order now! ]  

They are expected to place defensive tackle John Cominsky on injured reserve in the coming days to create another opening, and have indicated they plan to re-sign nose tackle Kyle Peko, who they released as part of their initial roster cuts Tuesday.

In Denver, Patrick was the odd man out in a receiving corps that features Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Devaughn Vele, former Lions receiver Josh Reynolds and rookie Troy Franklin.

In 2021, the Lions acquired receiver Trinity Benson in a cut-day trade with the Broncos in an effort to bolster their receiver room. Benson caught 10 passes in nine games with the Lions over two seasons.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

The Detroit Tigers wrapped up its Windy City road trip on Monday with a four-game sweep of the lowly Chicago White Sox putting the team at the .500 mark late in the season for the first time in what seems like forever.

AJ Hinch’s squad has been hitting on all cylinders since their series at the Cincinnati Reds in early July thanks in large part to a revitalized offense along with a tenacious pitching staff that has surprisingly worked its way through injuries and ineffectiveness. Now they return home to host the Los Angeles Angels for a trio in Comerica Park this week looking to add more to the win column.

The Halos currently reside in the basement of the American League West 16 games behind the first-place Houston Astros and two games behind the fourth-place Oakland Athletics. Having lost five in a row and getting swept at the Toronto Blue Jays in a four-game series last weekend, they arrive in the Motor City on the downswing.

Below is a look at the pitching matchup for Tuesday night’s affair, with both teams turning in TBDs for Wednesday and the Angels lining up a rookie on Thursday.

Detroit Tigers (66-66) vs Los Angeles Angels (54-77)

Times (ET): Tues: 6:40 p.m.; Wed: 6:40 p.m.; Thurs: 1:10 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site: Halos Heaven
Media: Bally Sports Detroit, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 133: LHP Brant Hurter (1-1, 3.57 ERA) vs. RHP Johnny Cueto (0-1, 4.26 ERA)

Hurter

Cueto

Game 134: TBD vs. TBD

Neither starter was announced at the time of publication.

Game 135: TBD vs. RHP Jack Kochanowicz (1-3, 6.08 ERA)

Series Outlook: Let’s keep the winning going!

As well as the Tigers have been playing for the past month and change, there is no reason Detroit cannot take at least two of three from Los Angeles this week. Sure, sweeping the ChiSox was not a massive accomplishment but the team has been trending upward since before that series.

The Angels are ranked 26th in OPS (.674) and 27th in runs scored (515) among MLB teams on offense while coming in at 27th in ERA (4.58), 25th in WHIP (1.32) and tied for 17th in batting average against (.242). Compare that with the Olde English D, which is ranked 23rd in OPS (.687) and 19th in runs scored (562) while coming in 10th in ERA (3.83), third in WHIP (1.20) and in a four-way tie for ninth in batting average against (.238).

The Motor City Kitties should not have any issues preventing their weekday opponents from scoring and should also be able to plate a few players themselves. Expect an exciting series as the clock ticks down on the 2024 campaign.