As September begins to cool off the summer heat, Riley Greene has only grown more scorching when stepping into the left-handed batter's box.
The All-Star left fielder has been obliterating baseballs in his first week back from a three-week stint on the injured list (hamstring). He kept up the mini-streak with three more hits in a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday, Sept. 7, including a 417-foot two-run homer deep into the right-field stands to give Detroit the insurance it needed in a one-run win.
Over the Detroit Tigers' three games from Sept. 5-7, Greene went 9-for-13 with three home runs, three doubles, three singles and eight RBIs.
"He's not missing pitches when he gets them," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said following Monday's win. "Obviously,
he is hitting the ball hard. He is hitting the ball to all fields. In Cleveland, it was more oppo. Today was a little bit more pull.
"You know you always feel good when Riley Greene is up to bat."
Monday was Greene's sixth game back, after missing the final two weeks of August while dealing with a hamstring strain that he picked up while decelerating on the basepaths Aug. 11 against the Cleveland Guardians.
While Greene was out, the Tigers went 4-14 with an offense that averaged 2.9 runs per game. His absence sapped Detroit of one its biggest sources of slugging and a lineup variable that other teams have to account for.
"You see the difference that he is in our lineup and how when the lineup rolls around, there's just a lot of things created around the Riley Greene at-bat," Hinch said. "When he gets a good pitch to hit and when he's locked in like he is right now, he starts to pile up hits as fast and impactful as anyone."
Greene's torrid three-game stretch started with a 4-for-5 night with two home runs and four RBIs against Cleveland on Saturday (a 6-0 Tigers win). He followed that up with two more doubles in Sunday's loss. On Monday, Greene hit a splitter for a single in the first and sent an out-of-zone fastball into right field for a seventh-inning single.
Between those at-bats, Greene pummeled a 95.3 mph fastball from left-handed reliever Connor Prielipp for his no-doubt home run, his 19th of the season. Of Greene's nine hits over the three-day span, six of them left his bat with an exit velocity greater than 105 mph.
"It feels like every ball he hits is over 105," said rookie Kevin McGonigle, who produced the hardest hit in Monday's win with a first-inning solo home run at 108.4 mph. "It is just really, really cool to watch and it is cool to see all the work he puts in and for it to pay off like it is right now."
Greene's home run against Minnesota gave the Tigers just enough cushion. Starting pitcher Troy Melton gave up two runs on three straight two-out hits in the sixth inning, tightening Detroit's lead to one run. But the bullpen, a pain point all summer for the Tigers, navigated a few walks to pitch 3⅓ scoreless innings of relief.
"Riley separates us a bit, which allowed us to absorb a couple of self-inflicted wounds," Hinch said.
The Tigers collectively breathed a sigh of relief after closing it out. Detroit is fresh off a series loss to the Guardians in which they dropped three out of four games in walk-off fashion. After Monday's win, the Tigers are now 14-26 in games decided by a one-run margin.
"Obviously, we all know how that series in Cleveland went and just the way it happened," said Melton, who is 8-4 with a 2.42 ERA after Monday's start. "It was nice to see some bounce-back and some big outs."
ContactJared Ramsey at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene scorching at the plate in return from IL
