All-Star outfielder Riley Greene had four RBIs in his ninth career multi-homer game as the visiting Detroit Tigers bounced back from a doubleheader sweep, beating the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 on Saturday night.
Framber Valdez (9-10) pitched seven scoreless innings, matching his season high, and allowed three hits. The left-hander struck out three, walked one and hit a batter in shutting down American League playoff hopeful Cleveland (72-71).
The Guardians’ lead over the Toronto Blue Jays for the final wild-card berth was sliced to one-half game, while Detroit (65-77) moved within 6 1/2 games of the spot.
Greene hit two solo home runs, a 407-foot drive in the first and a 421-foot blast in the sixth, in breaking a homer drought that lasted more than a month against Parker Messick (11-9). His previous blast occurred on Aug. 4 at the Seattle Mariners.
In addition, Greene had four hits and scored three times. He drove in Gleyber Torres in the third and in the seventh to give the Tigers a 4-0 advantage.
All-Star rookie Messick established a career high with 12 strikeouts over six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings. Cleveland’s Austin Peterson made his major league debut with two scoreless innings of relief.
Detroit extended its lead to 6-0 in the seventh when Dillon Dingler tacked on a sacrifice fly and Ben Malgeri singled in Greene for his third hit.
On Friday, Cleveland won both games in walk-off fashion. Brayan Rocchio’s homer in the ninth and Travis Bazzana’s RBI single in the 10th did the honors, in order.
Rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter (right wrist sprain) was unavailable for the Guardians, but outfielder Angel Martinez (left shoulder bruise) and shortstop Brayan Rocchio both were in the lineup after running into each other while pursuing a pop-up Friday.
Tigers third baseman Hao-Yu Lee (left shin bruise) started, telling manager A.J. Hinch that he was not bothered by the pain from his collision with Austin Hedges at home plate in the second game of the doubleheader.
–Field Level Media
