Kerry Carpenter did something a Tigers player hasn't done in more than a decade

Kerry Carpenter joined some pretty elite Detroit Tigers territory on Monday against the Rays.

With his double in the seventh inning, Carpenter recorded an RBI for his seventh consecutive game. The last time that was accomplished by a Detroit Tigers player was Miguel Cabrera in 2013. Cabrera did his feat from Aug. 6-12, 2013. During that time he recorded 12 RBI.

Carpenter has recorded nine RBI during his streak.

He still has a ways to go to join several other Tigers who've been among league leaders, according to research by Herb Krabbenhoft published by SABR in 2008.

Billy Roggell has the longest streak, 22 games, in 1934. Harry Heilmann had a 21 game streak in 1923.

More recently, Alan Trammell had a 15-game streak in 1993 and a 13-game streak in 1990. And among other Tigers royalty, you could find Al Kaline on the list in 1963 (12), 1967 (13), and 1974 (10).

So there's still a few games to go for Carpenter to really make a mark. But any time your name comes up along Miguel Cabrera's for something you've done at the plate, that's pretty good company to keep.

Kerry Carpenter is leading the Tigers offense right now

Now in just his second full season with the Tigers, Carpenter's really starting to break out. He is currently hitting .310 with .919 OPS, three home runs, 13 RBI, and seven runs scored. He has an OPS+ of 163. His .563 slugging is the highest on the team.

Carpenter ranks 17rd in MLB in weighted On Base Average, a stat created to measure a player's overall offensive contribution to plate appearance and set to the same scale as OBP.

Not surprisingly Carpenter leads the Tigers in percentage of barrels per plate appearance (9.7%, just ahead of Riley Greene).

Carpenter hit .278 with .811 OPS last season.

Tigers offense breaks out against the Rays

The criticism of the Tigers so far this year has been the offense letting Tigers pitchers down. The Tigers have the second-lowest ERA in MLB (2.85) but have repeatedly found themselves in one-run games or needing a late-inning rally because even good pitching allows runs to score.

The last five games have seen the trend reverse. Detroit scored 28 runs during that time for a 5.6 average. They had a relaxing 6-1 victory over the Twins on Sunday, and 7-1 win over the Rays on Monday.

Against the Rays, the Tigers offense got out early with two runs in the first and were up 7-0 by the seven inning. They went on to win, 7-1, an improved to 13-10 on the year.

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