Tigers 4, Orioles 2: Riley Greene goes deep twice

Keider Montero and the bullpen were solid, and Riley Greene did the rest.

We haven’t felt this in a long time, and neither has a young Tigers team. Every game feels like a must-win, and that’s pretty close to the literal truth as we turn into the second half of September. The cats were up to the task on Sunday as Riley Greene homered twice to lead the Tigers to a 4-2 victory and a series win over the Baltimore Orioles.

The Tigers came into this game desperately needing a victory to keep their slim wild card hopes alive. Of course, everyone in the picture, including the Orioles, feels that way in mid-September. They’ll make the postseason, but are still sitting two games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East.

Keider Montero got the start in this one, looking to build on his progress and coming off the Tigers first complete game shutout in several years. He’d have a tougher test in the Baltimore Orioles . Montero allowed a first inning two-out double to Anthony Santander but otherwise racked up three ground ball outs.

Things got off to a pretty ugly looking start for the Tigers offense as Andy Ibáñez, Justyn-Henry Malloy, and Riley Greene all struck out against lefty Cade Povich. Montero allowed a Colton Cowser double in the second inning but again turned the Orioles away by striking out Emmanuel Rivera to end the inning.

Then it was the Tigers turn to squander an opportunity. With one out in the bottom of the second, Colt Keith drew a walk, and Spencer Torkelson trademarked a little flare down the third base line that dropped in. Keith got to third and Torkelson slid into second just ahead of the throw. Unfortunately, Trey Sweeney lifted a pop up and Dillon Dingler grounded out to strand them.

The third inning didn’t get off to an auspicious start when Livan Soto led off with a ground ball single. Montero got squeezed a bit against Gunnar Henderson and walked him. Cedric Mullins flew out to Matt Vierling who cruised over toward center field and took charge as he has the better outfield arm. He then proceeded to miss the cut off man as Soto advanced to third, allowing Henderson to advance to second base as well. Not ideal, but Montero was up to the task getting Santander to pop out to Sweeney and then a ground ball to turn the Orioles away off the bat of Heston Kjerstad. Some big early pitches from the rookie in those at-bats.

Andy Ibáñez walked with one out in the bottom of the third. Malloy took a close called strike three, but Riley Greene stepped to the dish and absolutely crushed a Povich fastball deep to right field for a two-run blast. 2-0 Tigers after three.

Adley Rutschman greeted Montero with a solid single to lead off the fourth, and again the rookie was behind the eight ball to start an inning. And again, he was up to the challenge, getting Ryan O’Hearn to ground one to Colt Keith at second who started a 4-6-3 double play. Colton Cowser followed with a single to left field, but Rivera flew out harmlessly to end the inning. Montero wasn’t getting many whiffs and his command wasn’t as sharp this time out, but the Orioles were still struggling to square him up.

Keith and Torkelson flew out to Santander in right field to start the bottom half, and Sweeney struck out on a sweeping breaking ball away. So we were on to the fifth with the Tigers still holding a slender 2-0 lead. Montero had at least been efficient, starting the frame at 53 pitches.

Three quick outs followed in the top of the fifth, with Montero needing just 10 pitches to get Soto, Henderson, and Cedric Mullins. Only Henderson hit anything hard, flying out almost to the warning track in left field. Riley Greene put it away with no issues, however.

This feels like a decent time to note that Riley is now tied with the Blue Jays Daulton Varsho as the leading defensive left fielders in baseball according to defensive runs saved (DRS).

Despite Povich’s rather ugly line this season, he continued to thrive against the non-Riley portion of the Tigers’ lineup. He was beyond 80 pitches in the bottom of the fifth, but they couldn’t take advantage. Dillon Dingler struck out, Meadows grounded out, and Ibáñez struck out to end the fifth.

Despite the lack of whiffs, Montero made it 14 straight innings without allowing a run. Still, he wasn’t sharp in this one and didn’t really have the handle of either breaking ball. As a result, A.J. Hinch went all in early by bringing in Tyler Holton to start the sixth rather than let the Orioles see Montero a third time.

Santander flew out to start things, and then the effect of the move started to kick in as Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde inserted Eloy Jimenez to hit for Kjerstad. The former White Sox slugger grounded out to Ibáñez at third. That left it up to Rutschman. Holton missed away with three straight cutters and eventually walked him. Coby Mayo pinch-hit for Ryan O’Hearn, and that was two dangerous left-handed hitters out of the game. Holton struck out Mayo, and the things were proceeding according to plan.

What was needed were more runs, and part of the plan came to fruition in the bottom of the sixth. Jace Jung pinch-hit for Malloy as right-hander Andrew Webb took over from Povich, but Jung grounded out. Riley Greene also grounded out, and it was up to Matt Vierling, who drew a walk to bring Colt Keith to the plate.

On a 1-1 pitch to Keith, Webb missed away for ball two, and Vierling stole second base just ahead of a good throw from Rutschman. Keith drilled a solid single to left field, Vierling scored, and it was 3-0 Tigers. Really good swing from Keith there taking a high fastball and smoking it the opposite way. Torkelson nubbed a little ground out off the end of the bat, but the Tigers had expanded their lead a little bit.

Holton got Cowser to ground out to start the seventh. However, Rivera pulled a double to left field. Hyde pinch-hit Austin Slater in for Soto, and so A.J. Hinch turned to a right-hander of his own, calling on Will Vest. With Gunnar Henderson on deck, this was a bit of a scary move, but Holton is pitching just about every other day at this point and they can’t pitch him that often and lean on him for 2-3 innings both. So it was on Vest to do the job. Slater bounced out to Keith at second, Rivera moved to third, and so it was Vest versus one of the most dangerous young hitters in the game. I wouldn’t have hated walking him to face Cedric Mullins, but Vest went right after Henderson and got another ground out to Keith.

Keegan Akin took over on the mound for the Orioles in the bottom of the seventh. Trey Sweeney rapped a solid single up the middle, but Parker Meadows, Dingler, and Ibáñez looked absolutely lost, striking out in order.

Cedric Mullins led off the eighth, and Vest walked the speedy center fielder. That is not the guy to walk as he’s highly likely to steal second, and Vest needed to focus on Santander. He did get his man, as Santander lined out directly to Vierling in right field. Eloy Jimenez grounded out to Keith, moving Mullins to second for Adley Rutschman. In a 2-2 count, Vest went up and in with a heater and just missed the corner. He challenged the Orioles catcher with a fastball right down the middle that got fouled off, and then hung a slider that Rutschman crushed to right field for a two-run shot. 3-2 Tigers.

That was it for Vest, as Hinch turned to Jason Foley to get the final four outs. Foley struck out Coby Mayo looking on a slider right on the edge, and it was the Tigers turn. They really needed some insurance, and they got it.

Gregory Soto, hardly recognizable without the dreads, took over for the Orioles. Wenceel Pérez led off the bottom of the eighth pinch-hitting for Jace Jung but grounded out. So Riley Greene stepped to the dish and mashed his second homer of the game, and 23rd on the season. Also notable was the fact that Greene did it against left-handers both times in this one.

Matt Vierling grounded out, and Colt Keith struck out, and it was 4-2 Tigers headed into the ninth.

So it was all in Jason Foley’s hands. He blew Cowser away with a sinker tailing away, and then Rivera grounded out to Keith. Quickly the Orioles were down to their final out, and the hitter would be the rookie, Jackson Holliday. Foley got a quick ground out to Sweeney at shortstop, and the Tigers wrapped up another series victory.

The Tigers are now 77-73, and two games behind the Twins, who are currently playing the Cincinnati Reds and in danger of letting the Tigers creep to 1.5 games back in the wild card hunt should they lose that game. Of course, the tiebreaker still means that the Tigers would technically be 2.5 games back, but that’s right on their heels even with only 12 games left in the season. It’s going to take a heck of a finish, but it’s not out of reach yet and the Tigers are really putting the Twins to the fire right now.

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