Kerry Carpenter blasts Detroit Tigers to 15-1 win vs. Seattle Mariners on Tarik Skubal day

Kerry Carpenter hit two home runs in his return from a 79-day absence on the injured list, Jake Rogers hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs, and Tarik Skubal pitched six innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts. Even Javier Báez hit a rare home run as part of the Detroit Tigers' 15-run, 21-hit showcase.

It was an epic game to remember.

The Tigers swung their way to a 15-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in Monday's opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park, with left-handed reliever Joey Wentz recording the first save of his MLB career by covering the final three innings.

"Those are a couple of our donkeys," Rogers said of Skubal and Carpenter. "We rely on those guys. Having Carp come back, he's a huge part of this team. Obviously, we're a lot better when he's in there. We want those guys to play every day if they could."

Eleven of the 15 runs were scored against right-hander George Kirby, who entered with a 3.13 ERA and left with a 3.42 ERA. A fielding error in the fourth inning saved five earned runs from Kirby's tab.

Skubal, meanwhile, lowered his ERA to 2.53 through 24 starts in his fifth MLB season, building on his status as the frontrunner to win the American League Cy Young Award. He allowed one run on three hits and one walk, throwing 88 pitches.

The Mariners scored their lone run in the fourth inning.

"Welcome back," Skubal said of Carpenter's return. "We've missed him. That bat is special."

The Tigers (57-63) benefitted from everyone in the lineup, but Carpenter stole the show in his comeback from a lumbar spine stress fracture. The 26-year-old, who played four games with Triple-A Toledo in his rehab assignment, blasted home runs in the third and fourth innings as part of a three-hit performance in his first game since May 26.

"It was just a pretty special night to be a part of," Carpenter said.

"I told Kerry, 'If you would've done that in Charlotte, I might have thrown up in the dugout,'" manager A.J. Hinch said, with Triple-A Toledo currently playing in Charlotte, North Carolina. "He's such a big presence and such a big threat, and it's amazing what one hitter does to the middle of your order, where it just sort of relaxes the group."

Carpenter struck out swinging in his first trip to the plate, but in the third inning, he squared up a middle-middle fastball from Kirby for a solo home run to left field.

The solo homer put the Tigers ahead, 2-0.

In the fourth, Carpenter extended the Tigers' lead to 7-1 with a two-run home run off Kirby's middle-middle splitter, demolished to right field.

"Similar to my two-strike approach in general," Carpenter said. "Be on his fastest heater at the top, and that usually lets me see everything else, so I saw everything else pretty well, even with two strikes, and he just made a mistake."

Carpenter, a left-handed hitter, finished 3-for-5 with two home runs, three RBIs and two strikeouts. He is hitting .293 with 10 home runs and a .962 OPS in 51 games this season.

"I prayed about it more than anything," Carpenter said. "It was more just surrendering the outcome, whether it was good or bad. Four strikeouts, four homers, whatever happened, I was going to be free and play with gratitude to be back. That probably is one of the reasons tonight went so well."

Jake Rogers, seven RBIs

After Carpenter's second home run, the Tigers loaded the bases on Colt Keith's single, Gio Urshela's single and Bligh Madris' walk with two outs in the fourth inning.

That's when Rogers hit a grand slam — for the fourth time in his MLB career — to right field off Kirby's two-strike fastball. The grand slam extended the Tigers' lead to 11-1, chasing Kirby from his 25th start.

"I've been crushing it in the cage and trying to find what works and what doesn't," said Rogers, who hit .140 with 12 RBIs in his previous 30 games. "I resorted to the mustache, and I think that helped me a lot, pushed me over the top. But no, I've been working hard and trying to get on time."

Kirby allowed 11 runs (six earned runs) on 13 hits and one walk with five strikeouts across 3⅔ innings, throwing 86 pitches. He surrendered one run in the first, four runs in the third and six runs in the fourth.

Rogers also produced in the third and sixth innings.

He smacked a two-RBI double to right field in the third, making it 5-0, and an RBI double to the gap in left-center field in the sixth, making it 13-1. He tried to turn a double into a triple in the sixth, which would've put him a single away from the cycle, but he was thrown out sliding head-first into third base.

"I wanted it," Rogers said of the triple attempt. "I saw I was going to split them, and I was like, 'I'm going to go.' Obviously, I didn't get there. The scamper wasn't scampering fast enough."

"I wanted it bad for him," Skubal said. "I was probably trying to run as hard as I could mentally for him."

Rogers finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, one home run and seven RBIs. He became the first Tiger to record seven RBIs in a single game since Ryan Raburn on July 25, 2007.

Javier Báez, home run

In the sixth inning, Báez — the only player without a hit at the time — joined the party with a two-run home run off a middle-away slider from right-handed reliever Troy Taylor that stayed inside the strike zone. He hit the ball 370 feet with a 99.9 mph exit velocity to left-center field, just beyond the outstretched glove of the outfielder.

Báez extended the Tigers' lead to 15-1 with his fifth homer in 76 games this season.

After that, Justyn-Henry Malloy came off the bench as a pinch-hitter and ripped a first-pitch sinker into left field for the Tigers' 20th hit of the game. The Tigers tacked on their 21st and final hit in the eighth inning.

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

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Next up: Mariners

Matchup: Tigers (57-63) vs. Seattle (63-57).

First pitch: 6:40 p.m. Wednesday; Comerica Park.

TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).

Probable pitchers: Tigers — TBD; Mariners — RHP Bryan Woo (5-1, 2.27 ERA).