CLEVELAND – This is what the Tigers were missing when Riley Greene was on the injured list.
As Greene’s seventh-inning drive off Guardians reliever Matt Festa went screaming toward Progressive Field’s fence in right-center field Saturday night, Greene looked for a second like he might have his first career three-homer game, and the first for a Tiger in this city since Carlos Peña in 2003.
“I was hoping,” Greene said after the Tigers’ 6-0 win.
Alas, the ball hit off the base of the fence for a double. It still scored Gleyber Torres easily. At that point, the Tigers had a 4-0 lead built entirely on four RBI hits from Greene on a two-homer night. No Tiger had posted RBIs in four consecutive plate appearances since Nick Castellanos on July 18, 2017.
By the time the inning was over, Detroit had a six-run advantage. Unlike Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader, it held. The Tigers had put the heartbreak of Friday’s double-walk-off doubleheader sweep behind them.
“Riley had a great game, but our whole team did,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”
Part of that is team pride. Part is Greene putting the offense on his back and showing the way.
“Riley had himself a day out there,” said rookie outfielder Ben Malgeri, whose three hits included an RBI single. “He was locked in, and it’s contagious. When a guy like that goes out there and shows that it can be done, then everyone else kind of follows along.”
Greene has had a complicated relationship with Progressive Field, where the seemingly omnipresent advertising for Uncrustables reminds him of one of his favorite foods. Greene entered Saturday batting just .168 (19-for-113) for his regular-season career in this park, and 6-for-21 in the postseason. However, he has more home runs here than any other stadium besides Comerica Park. One of those was a Statcast-projected 411-foot drive off Parker Messick last Sept. 25 in Messick’s seventh MLB start for Greene’s 36th and final home run of the regular season.
They probably didn’t count on meeting at the All-Star Game the following summer.
“We were talking. I figured out he lived in Plant City,” Greene said. “It's pretty close to Orlando.”
Said Messick: “I think he owes me a fishing trip that we've been talking about the last few times I've seen him after tonight. He's a great hitter, and he's a huge part of their lineup. I'm sure they're happy to have him back.”
Greene fouled off a pair of Messick fastballs to begin his first at-bat on Saturday, but when Messick tried to finish him off with a cutter, Greene saw it over the plate and crushed it, sending it deep to left-center through a crosswind.
“I was just trying to find barrels, just trying to focus on being on time and really just putting the bat to the ball,” Greene said. “The result's the result. They were homers.”
Messick came back at Greene with an 0-1 elevated sinker during his at-bat with runners at first and second and one out in the third inning, but Greene fought it off for a line-drive RBI single into center.
Messick got on a roll from there, retiring eight consecutive batters – five by strikeout – before Greene came back up to lead off the sixth inning. Messick tried to put a fastball on the outside corner but left it over the plate for Greene to crush again, nearly to the same spot as his first homer but even further into the bleachers. The Statcast-projected 421-foot drive extended Detroit’s lead to 3-0.
“To go backside to left-center field is just a really good swing,” Messick said. “I could throw those balls there to a lot of other lefties and don't get that same result. Hats off to him.”
Greene’s display spoiled an outing in which Messick set a career high with 12 strikeouts over six innings. Festa replaced Messick for the seventh inning but had no better luck.
It was the kind of offensive outburst the Tigers missed badly while Greene was on the injured list for most of August with a hamstring strain; Detroit stood in second place in the AL Central, just a half-game out of a Wild Card spot, on the night Greene strained his hamstring and left their Aug. 11 win over the Guardians at Comerica Park.
The Tigers went 4-14 with Greene out before his return Tuesday in Minnesota. They posted an MLB-worst .197 batting average and .591 OPS in that stretch.
“I show up to the field just trying to help the team win every day,” Greene said. “I love homers. We all love hitting homers. It's good. Just trying to help the team any way I can.”