Riley Greene homered twice during an eight-run ninth inning to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 9-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.
The Tigers hit four home runs in the ninth, three of which came off Angels closer Kenley Jansen, who entered with the game tied at 1-1. Greene led off the inning with a home run and Colt Keith went deep three pitches later.
With two outs and a runner at first, Javier Baez added a blast off Jansen, who gave up six runs and six hits while recording two outs.
Greene’s second homer of the inning was a three-run shot off Jake Eder. Trey Sweeney also homered for Detroit, his coming in the seventh inning and forging a 1-1 tie.
Tigers reliever Tyler Horton (2-2) got the win over Jansen (0-1). The Angels lost their seventh game in a row.
The Tigers’ offensive display in the ninth overshadowed the performance of the starting pitchers, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Los Angeles’ Jose Soriano.
Zach Neto led off the bottom of the first inning for the Angels with a home run, hitting Skubal’s first pitch of the game — a 98-mph fastball — over the fence in left-center field for his fourth homer of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Skubal did not allow another run, going six innings and giving up four hits without walking a batter. He struck out eight, making 73 pitches.
The Angels had their chances, though, most notably in the third inning. Kyren Paris led off with a double and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Tim Anderson.
Neto came to the plate with a chance to increase the Angels’ lead, but Skubal struck him out on a 99-mph fastball that was up and out of the strike zone. As Neto walked toward the dugout, Skubal appeared to say something to Neto, who turned and took a few steps toward Skubal. Both benches emptied but nothing further ensued.
Soriano matched Skubal and then some, throwing six shutout innings while allowing six hits and one walk. He struck out five and made 94 pitches.
–Field Level Media
