Riley Greene makes MLB history with 2 HR ninth inning

Greene joined some rarified company with his late-game heroics

There was a point, early this season, where some were wondering if Riley Greene might have lost his swing. After a hot start, the All-Star outfielder scuffled through much of mid-April. But A.J. Hinch never gave up on him, and Greene never gave up on himself, and it became obvious in recent weeks that Greene was getting his mojo back.

Late in the evening on May 2nd, up against the Angels who had held onto a one-run lead for the entirety of the game, Riley Greene faced off against legendary reliever Kenley Jansen, and he opened the ninth inning with a solo home run to break a 1-1 deadlock. Nine batters later, Riley was back in the batter’s box and it was still the ninth inning. However, the score at that point was 6-1 as Colt Keith and Javier Báez made it three home runs in the inning. This time Greene was facing Jake Eder. Once again, Riley went yard, and as soon as the ball left the field, he also made MLB history.

With his second home run of the inning, Greene joined a very small coterie of hitters to get two home runs in the same inning. He is the 62nd player to do it, the second this season (Jo Adell hit two homers on April 10th in the fifth inning.)

But by doing it in the ninth inning, Riley Greene cemented himself as a player to accomplish something for the very first time in MLB history. None of the other 61 players to homer twice in one inning ever did it in the ninth inning before .

It has also been almost 20 years since a Tigers player has accomplished the feat in any inning. So not only was it an incredible inning of baseball, and another victory for the red hot Detroit Tigers, it was one that made MLB history as well.