Detroit Tigers left fielder Riley Greene has been on an absolute tear recently as he is coming up big for the Tigers at the plate in almost every game. On Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics, Greene went 4-5 with a double and two RBIs. The Tigers got out to a shaky start despite having ace Tarik Skubal on the mound, but thanks to an offensive explosion led by Greene, they went on to win the game 11-4.
Riley Greene was on fire on Tuesday, but it didn't start then. He has been impressive all season long, but the last two weeks or so have been something else. In the last 15 days, Greene is 21-51 with four homers, 17 RBIs and a 1.250 OPS. In the last seven days, he is 13-24 with two homers, 10 RBIs and a 1.514 OPS. There aren't many players seeing the baseball like Greene right now.
“He's on a heater,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said after Tuesday's win. “It's fun to watch him when he's hitting to all fields, he's hitting for power, he's hitting in big spots. I love that he's letting the game come to him a little bit more. Now that's a little bit easier when you're piling up the success that he's piled up in the last few weeks, but it coincides with getting good pitches to hit and getting in good counts and not trying to do too much. It's amazing in this sport, for guys like him, not trying to do too much actually has you do a lot of things well. He's an example of that.”
Article Continues BelowGreene is a big reason why the Tigers became the first team to reach 50 wins on the season on Tuesday. The 11-4 win improved the team's record to 50-30 on the year, which is the best record in baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers aren't too far behind as they are currently sitting at 49-31. The other teams in the AL Central are pretty far behind, however. The Tigers currently have a 9.5 game cushion between them and the second place Cleveland Guardians.
The opportunities will be there for Riley Greene and the Tigers to pick up more wins in the last week of June as they have two more games at home against the Athletics, and then the struggling Minnesota Twins will come to Detroit. The Twins are 1-11 in their last 12 and they have lost five games in a row.
Detroit and Oakland will be back in action on Wednesday for the second game of that series. The two teams will get underway at 6:40 ET from Comerica Park in Detroit. Jack Flaherty will be on the mound for the Tigers, and Jacob Lopez will get the start for the Athletics.