HOUSTON – Riley Greene homered in each of the first two innings and set career highs with four hits and six RBIs as the Detroit Tigers raced to a huge lead and cruised to a 13-5 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday.
“He’s learning. He’s growing,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Greene. “He gets good pitches to hit. He does a ton of damage and obviously he can put together games like this that are fun to watch and fun to be a part of.”
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The Tigers jumped on starter Spencer Arrighetti (3-6) for five hits and seven runs in just 1 1/3 innings. The 24-year-old got the start after Justin Verlander was scratched with neck discomfort Saturday morning.
Matt Vierling, Carson Kelly and Colt Keith each hit a solo homer to give Detroit a season-high five home runs. Wenceel Pérez added a career-best four hits with two RBIs as the Tigers piled up 19 hits — their most this season.
Detroit starter Jack Flaherty (4-3) allowed three hits and struck out six in five innings for his third straight win.
Chas McCormick homered for the first time this season on a three-run shot in the seventh for the Astros, who went 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position as they lost for the fourth time in six games.
There was one out in the first when Vierling homered to left-center field. Greene gave Detroit back-to-back home runs for the first time this season when he sent one into the seats in left to make it 2-0.
Arrighetti walked two batters to start the second before plunking Kelly on the arm to load the bases. A single on a grounder to right field by Pérez scored two to push the lead to 4-0.
There was one out in the inning when Greene connected again with a shot to right field to make it 7-0 and chase Arrighetti. It was Greene’s second career multi-home run game after he also hit two on April 23 against Tampa Bay.
Greene, who leads the team with a career-high 14 home runs, described his day simply as “good.”
“But it’s just one day and you can’t sprint a marathon,” he said. “So you show up tomorrow and get down and dirty and grind.”
The seven runs Arrighetti allowed tied a season high and it was his shortest start of the year.
“He’s a tough kid and I expect him to go back to the work and then be better next time out there,” manager Joe Espada said.
Greene made it 9-0 with an RBI single on his third at-bat and Kelly extended it to 11-0 with his home run with two outs in the sixth. Greene’s fourth hit came on a single in the seventh and he drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth for his sixth RBI.
Victor Caratini tripled with one out in the third, but Flaherty retired Jose Altuve before striking out Alex Bregman to end the threat.
Yainer Diaz walked to opened Houston’s fifth before a double by Mauricio Dubón. But Flaherty left Houston emptyhanded again when he sat down the next three batters, with two strikeouts, to end the inning.
The Astros trailed by 11 before scoring five runs in the seventh, capped by McCormick’s homer.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: Verlander doesn’t believe his injury is serious and hopes he won’t need to go on the injured list. He is listed as day to day.
UP NEXT
RHP Kenta Maeda (2-2, 5.89 ERA) will start for the Tigers in Sunday’s finale. The Astros had not announced their starter after moving up Arrighetti to start Saturday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb