The Detroit Tigers are awaiting further tests to see if they suffered a serious setback when Kerry Carpenter exited Game 4 early with a limp.

Carpenter left the game in the bottom of the sixth inning after he came up lame rounding third base and racing home on a RBI single from Wenceel Pérez that briefly put the Tigers ahead 3-2. Just after the game ended, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said it was a left hamstring injury, but did not share any more information.

"He's going to get some tests on his left hamstring," Hinch said. "He came around third. I think we all saw him start limping back to the dugout, and he couldn't go any further. So we've gotta get him looked at."

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Carpenter, the designated hitter batting out of the two hole, led off the sixth inning with a single before he eventually came around to score to give the Tigers a brief lead before it evaporated on David Fry's game-winning two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning in the 5-4 loss. Carpenter finished the game 1-for-3 with two strikeouts against starter Tanner Bibee.

Carpenter's spot came up again as the third batter in the seventh inning and rookie infielder Jace Jung replaced him as the DH. Jung finished the game 0-for-1 with a walk. Jung said he didn't see Carpenter's injury but hopes the slugger will be back in the lineup for the winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday in Cleveland.

Carpenter is the biggest bat in the Tigers' lineup. He led the Tigers with a .932 OPS during the regular season with a .345 on-base percentage, a .587 slugging percentage and 18 home runs in 87 games. He has already been the Tigers' hero once in the ALDS, when he lifted the Tigers to a win in Game 2 with a two-out, three-run home run off closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning.

"Anytime a player like him has to leave the game, it's concerning, but I'm going to hold off any thoughts until the doctors give me an update and he gets imaging and all the things that we need to do prior to Saturday," Hinch said.

Injury limited Carpenter to only 87 games this year. The Tigers placed Carpenter on the injured list at the end of May with a lumbar spine stress fracture that kept him away from the team until mid-August. Carpenter's return to the lineup coincided with the Tigers catching fire and going from less than a 1% chance of making the postseason to now being a win away from the franchise's first ALCS appearance since 2013.

The Tigers were 25-25 in Carpenter's 50 appearances before the injury and were 24-13 down the stretch when he returned to the lineup. His role remains as a left-handed specialist who makes a living crushing right-handed pitching. He had 236 at-bats against righties compared to just 28 against left-handed pitching.

"I hope we can have him back out there Saturday," Jung said.

Carpenter's absence in the final three innings of the Game 4 loss was felt, especially in the bottom of the ninth inning when Clase got Jung to softly ground out in his spot in the lineup. But, his impact still showed up in a subtle way late during the attempted comeback.

Carpenter and right-handed outfielder/designated hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy spent most of the early innings going over batting approaches together in the dugout while Detroit was in the field. Malloy came in as a pinch-hitter in the ninth and ripped a lead-off double and eventually scored to trim Cleveland's lead to 5-4.

"We had really good conversations just about approach and the game plan," Malloy said. "Obviously he's a lefty and I'm righty so they're a little bit different (swing paths) but he tries to tell me as much as he possibly can."

The Tigers could be without Carpenter for Game 5, but will have their left-handed pitcher and ace, Tarik Skubal, available for his third postseason start and looking for a third win to clinch an ALCS spot.

Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering the city's professional teams, the state's two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22, and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Kerry Carpenter to have tests on left hamstring injury