Riley Greene homers twice and surging Tigers top struggling Orioles 4-2
Riley Greene homered twice and drove in three runs, and the Detroit Tigers beat Baltimore 4-2 on Sunday to take two of three from the Orioles.
Greene hit a two-run homer with two outs in the third off Cade Povich (2-9) and a solo drive in the eighth against Gregory Soto. Greene leads the Tigers with 23 homers. He hit both homers off left-handers after entering the day batting .203 with four homers against lefties.
Detroit (77-73) remained 2 1/2 games behind Minnesota (79-70) for the last AL wild card, has won six of eight.
"That's a really, really good team over there," Greene said. "We just keep putting our ourselves in good positions to get a possible win. Our goal is just to win every single game we can."
Baltimore (84-64) dropped its second straight series and scored just six runs in the three games. The Orioles, who have lost six of eight, fell three games back of the AL East-leading Yankees but are in position for the top AL wild card.
"Our pitching's been really good," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "We're giving ourselves a chance to win almost every single night out. We're playing pretty good defense. We're just not getting enough baserunners and when we do, we're not getting them home."
Keider Montero (6-6) gave up five hits in five innings and Jason Foley got four straight outs for his 23rd save in 26 chances.
"Having control of the zone, that was the key for sure," Montero said through an interpreter.
Povich allowed two runs, two hits and two walks in five innings while striking out eight.
Colt Keith boosted the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the sixth against right-hander Jacob Webb.
Adley Rutschman hit a two-run homer in the eighth against Will Vest, Rutschman's 19th homer this season but first since Aug. 18.
"We've just got to get going offensively," Hyde said. "We had the two-run homer later in the game but we're not stringing together many hits. When we have opportunities, we're not cashing them in."
Soto has allowed 30 home runs in his big league career but Greene's was just the fifth by a left-handed batter.
Soto is an ex-Tiger, and that familiarity was somewhat helpful for Greene.
"I know he's got that sinker and slider. It's still not a comfortable at-bat because he's really good," Greene said. "Just trying to put the barrel on the ball."
Baltimore outfielder Heston Kjerstad was activated from the 10-day injured list after recovering from a concussion and went 0 for 2 and Webb was reinstated from the 15-day IL following a bout of right elbow inflammation. Left-hander Cole Irvin and infielder Nick Maton were designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Tigers: RHP Seth Lugo (16-8, 2.94) starts for Kansas City on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series against visiting Detroit.