ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Riley Greene didn’t want to dwell too much on becoming the first player in major league history to homer twice in the ninth inning of a game.
The Detroit Tigers’ slugger hit a leadoff shot and then added a three-run blast later in the inning in a 9-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
“Yeah, I just found that out — pretty cool,” Greene said after fueling an eight-run, seven-hit outburst in the ninth. “But the game is over. We gotta show up tomorrow and try to win another baseball game.”
The score was tied 1-1 when Greene, facing Angels closer Kenley Jansen, led off the ninth with a 371-foot homer off the top of the right-field wall.
Colt Keith followed with a homer to left-center for a 2-1 lead, Jace Jung singled with one out, and Javier Báez hit a two-out, two-run shot to left for a 5-1 lead, giving the Tigers’ center fielder home runs in three straight games.
The Tigers, who have an American League-best 21-12 record, weren’t through. Kerry Carpenter singled, Zach McKinstry doubled, knocking Jansen out of the game, and Carpenter scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-1.
Spencer Torkelson walked, giving Greene a shot at history, and the cleanup man seized the moment, crushing a 409-foot homer to right-center off left-hander Jake Eder for a 9-1 lead.
Greene is the first Tigers player to hit two homers in an inning since Magglio Ordonez against the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 12, 2007. The only other Tigers player to homer twice in an inning is Hall-of-Famer Al Kaline, against the Kansas City A’s on April 17, 1955.
“He’s made an All-Star team, he’s been a featured player on our team, he hits in the middle of the order, he gets all the toughest matchups, and he asks for more,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said of Greene, who is batting .276 with an .828 OPS, seven homers and 20 RBIs on the season.
“You want guys to be rewarded when they work as hard as they do, and tonight was a huge night for him.”
It was the second straight night in which the Tigers have landed a few late-inning haymakers in Anaheim. Detroit scored eight runs on seven hits in the eighth and ninth innings of Thursday night’s 10-4 victory over the Angels, who have lost seven straight and 15 of their last 19 games.
“There’s no quit in our team,” said ace Tarik Skubal, who gave up one run and four hits and struck out eight in six innings Friday night. “We grind out at-bats, we don’t give away at-bats, and I think our record shows that. They grind out starters, relievers … I know I wouldn’t want to face a lineup like that. Every at-bat, they’re in it.”
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