DETROIT -- Riley Greene's third home run in as many days provided the difference in a Labor Day matinee with the Twins, helping Troy Melton avenge last week’s loss in Minnesota with a 5-4 victory Monday afternoon at Comerica Park.
Greene, who returned from the injured list last week at Target Field, has been on a tear all holiday weekend. He had four hits, two homers and four RBIs in Saturday’s win in Cleveland, then added two doubles and two RBIs to build a lead Sunday afternoon. The Guardians matched up relievers with Greene the rest of Sunday, then Twins starter Joe Ryan held him to a single and a groundout in the first two innings Monday.
The Twins believed they had a good matchup for Greene in lefty piggyback reliever Connor Prielipp, who’d retired Greene twice in his return last Tuesday. But when Prielipp left a 1-1 fastball over the heart of the plate, Greene crushed it, sending a Statcast-projected 417-foot drive to the right-field seats for his 19th home run of the season and a 5-2 lead.
Greene has eight hits, six for extra bases with triple-digit exit velocities, and eight RBIs over his last three games.
Melton, who gave up a season-high five earned runs last Tuesday at Target Field, had kept Minnesota’s offense relatively contained to that point, recovering from a first-inning run and Trevor Larnach’s fourth-inning solo homer. Melton retired his first two batters in the sixth, and was an out away from a quality start when back-to-back singles from Larnach and Kaelen Culpepper extended the inning for Walker Jenkins’ two-run double.
Melton rarely shows much emotion, reflecting his cool California personality, but he slammed his glove against the dugout bench in frustration, reminiscent of a young Tarik Skubal.
After three walk-off losses in Cleveland, the last thing Melton or the Tigers wanted was another blown lead. But Tyler Kinley struck out former Tiger Kody Clemens to strand the bases loaded before Jacob Waguespack, Drew Sommers and Kenley Jansen held the lead the rest of the way. Jansen earned his 18th save of the season and 494th of his career.