Greene's home run paces Tigers to doubleheader sweep over Orioles

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Apr 26, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — Riley Greene leaned back and launched a 96.5 mph four-seamer deep into the right-field seats and propelled the Detroit Tigers to a 6-2 win and a sweep of a Saturday doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles at Comerica Park.

It secured the Tigers’ seventh series win of the young season. At 16-10, they are off to their best start since 2015.

The Tigers took the first game, 4-3.

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Tigers quickly put two runners on against veteran Charlie Morton in the bottom of the third.

The Orioles used lefty Keegan Akin as an opener, hoping to give the struggling Morton an easier entry into the game. Morton, 41, came in with an ERA over 10.00.

Greene didn’t cooperate with the easier entry plan. He slammed Morton’s first pitch. The ball left his bat at a 31-degree launch angle with an exit velocity 104.5 and flew 398 feet.

It was Greene’s fourth homer and his first since April 4. He’d gone 76 plate appearances between homers.

The Tigers started right-hander Keider Montero, who was up from Triple-A Toledo as the 27th man. He went 4 1/3 innings and allowed a run on four hits.

Gunnar Henderson cued a double inside the bag at third base to score one run. Cedric Mullins tried to score from second but was thrown out by left fielder Zach McKinstry.

It was his first start in left field. He hustled to retrieve the ball after it hung up on the side wall and made a quick throw to the plate to catcher Tomas Nido, who made a lunging tag on Mullins.

Montero induced only three swings and misses on 77 pitches and didn’t get a called strike on any of his secondary (non-fastball) pitches. And the 14 balls the Orioles put in play had an average exit velocity of 91.2 mph.

In other words, Montero dodged some bullets.

So did the Tigers’ bullpen.

Lefty Brant Hurter finished the fifth but then struggled to find his command. He ended up walking two left-handed hitters and hitting another.

He gave up a run in the sixth and left a 3-2 game with a runner on in the seventh.

Lefty Sean Guenther, making his season debut, gave up a single to Henderson but struck out Adley Rutschman to end the inning.

The Tigers got some breathing room in the bottom of the seventh. With two on and two out, Spencer Torkelson, whose team-high eighth homer provided the winning margin in Game 1, looped a two-run double to left.

That knocked right-handed reliever Seranthony Dominguez out of the game. The Orioles brought in lefty Grant Wolfrom, the Holland native and Division II Davenport University (Grand Rapids) product for his major-league debut.

After he walked pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez, McKinstry ripped a double to left to open up a four-run cushion.

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