BALTIMORE — Kerry Carpenter hit two home runs, Parker Meadows saved the ball with a home run and the surging Detroit Tigers gained ground in the race for a wild card in the American League with a 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Carpenter’s third multi-home run game of the season secured the Tigers’ first winning season since 2016, as Detroit (82-74) tied Kansas City (82-74) and moved a half-game ahead of Minnesota (81-74) for the final AL wild-card spot.

“We’ve got a long way to go, so we’re staying grounded,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “But both can happen – we can be proud of what we’re doing and we can stay grounded and look forward to the next series.”

The Twins, who won the season series 7-6 against the Tigers, have the second game of their doubleheader in Boston later Sunday. The Twins would finish ahead of the Tigers if they finish with the same score.

The Tigers have won 11 of their last 14 games.

Baltimore (86-70) lost its fifth straight series and fell 5 1/2 games behind New York (91-64) in the race for the AL East with six games to go, but is still four games ahead of Kansas City and Detroit in the battle for the first wild-card spot.

“We had a great chance to win last night and we didn’t get it,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We had a chance today, too. I think we just had bad luck today.”

Spencer Torkelson hit a home run against Orioles right-hander Albert Suarez (8-7) and Trey Sweeney added an RBI double as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead.

Carpenter hit the first of his two home runs in the third inning to increase the lead to 3-0.

Cedric Mullins hit a two-run shot for Baltimore. Jordan Westburg, in his first game since July 31 (fractured right wrist), added an RBI double to complete the three-run fifth and tie the score at 3-3.

The damage would have been even greater if Meadows had not caught the ball with a jump over the wall in right center field, preventing Colton Cowser’s two-run home run against Sean Guenther (2-0) and thus ending the inning.

“I was about to jump on the wall,” said Carpenter, who was standing in right field with Meadows in center. “And then I saw him. He was fixated on the thing.”

Carpenter opened the sixth inning with his second deep hit and 17th of the season, which cleared the front of the groundskeeper’s shed on the right side by several feet.

“That’s huge,” Carpenter said. “They could have gone up by two runs, and then two minutes later I hit the home run and we’re up by one run. That changed the whole game.”

From there, Brenan Hanifee and Will Vest closed the gap to Jason Foley, who made his 26th save with a perfect ninth inning.

TRAINING ROOM

Tigers: INF Colt Keith (right shoulder) made his first defensive start since Tuesday, playing second baseman. … Hanifee hit Ramon Urías on the left thigh with a liner in the sixth inning, but stayed in the game.

Orioles: Westburg and Urías (right ankle sprain) were activated from the 10-day injured list and OF Daniel Johnson and INF Livan Soto were sent to Triple-A Norfolk.

Next

Tigers: Will return to a conventional starter at the start of the home series against Tampa Bay on Tuesday when AL Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal (17-4, 2.48 ERA) makes his 31st start.

Orioles: Dean Kremer (7-10, 4.19) will try to go more than six innings for the fourth consecutive time to open the series on Tuesday at the New York Yankees.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb