KANSAS CITY -- Riley Greene just keeps building on his special season.
With a two-run double in the fourth inning on Friday night, the Tigers’ outfielder racked up RBIs Nos. 100 and 101 in 2025. That makes Greene the first Detroit left-handed hitter since Rusty Staub in 1978 to reach the 100 barrier before September. He's also the first to do so for the Tigers since Nick Castellanos (101 in 2017).
But more importantly, Greene’s arrival at triple figures in RBIs gave the Tigers a one-run lead over the Royals that would hold up thanks to a bullpen effort that helped Detroit end a four-game losing streak.
After Greene put the Tigers ahead, Dillon Dingler added a solo homer in the eighth to provide some insurance in a 5-3 victory at Kauffman Stadium.
First-place Detroit had an 11 1/2-game advantage over Kansas City in the American League Central after defeating the Royals on Aug. 23. But then, the Royals won two-of-three against the White Sox while the Tigers were swept by the A’s in a three-game set in Sacramento.
It was a nervous trend that Detroit fervently hoped to change upon arriving in Kansas City.
The Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Friday, thanks to homers by Mike Yastrzemski and Maikel Garcia. But the Tigers came roaring back, extending their lead in the division to 9 1/2 games.
Time for a collective sigh of relief.
“It’s a great character win,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Really proud of our fight.”
Nobody has exemplified that fight more than Greene, who finished 3-for-5 at the plate and gave the Tigers that big blow that they needed after stranding seven runners through three innings. In the fateful fourth, with Kerry Carpenter and Gleyber Torres aboard and one out, Greene rifled a Seth Lugo pitch into the right-field corner for two runs that swung the momentum in a big way.
“He can do even better and that’s incredible to say, for someone who has carried us for so many games,” Hinch said of Greene. “To put up those numbers, you’ve got to post [up] and be in there against every guy. I applaud him for his consistency in posting every day and helping us win.”
After Greene’s big double put Detroit up 4-3, it settled into a bullpen game. Tigers starter Chris Paddack settled down after a rocky first, but he was lifted in the fourth as Hinch mixed and matched with his relievers. Meanwhile, Lugo went just 3 1/3 innings as the Tigers stuck to their scouting report against the veteran right-hander.
“We were going to make [Lugo] come into the strike zone,” Hinch said. “We didn’t get into swing mode. When you swing too much against Lugo, you have to cover a lot of different pitches.”
The Royals had a golden opportunity to at least tie the game in the seventh, but it was Kyle Finnegan to the rescue. Kansas City had a runner at third with one out and Hinch went to Finnegan against a red-hot Vinnie Pasquantino. Finnegan got an early foul ball and then, with the count 1-1, Finnegan used his splitter to get two swinging strikes.
“[Pasquantino] is trying to get the ball into the air, but the split is just really nasty,” Hinch said of Finnegan.
With a two-run lead, Will Vest allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Isbel in the ninth and then Yastrzemski went after a 3-0 pitch and bounced into a double play. Four relievers combined to hold the Royals scoreless over a 5 1/3 inning-span.
“It was huge to chip away and take the lead on Riley’s double,” said Carpenter, who got the Tigers on the scoreboard with a two-run single in the second. “Big game, divisional opponent. It was a great win tonight and everybody contributed.”