ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Riley Greene went deep twice for his first multi-homer game, Mark Canha added a homer and the Detroit Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Tuesday night.
The Tigers have won the first two of the three-game set to clinch their fifth unbeaten road series (4-0-1) to start the season. Detroit last opened a season with five unbeaten road series in 2007.
“It’s a special team,” Riley said. “We got a lot of guys in here that work super, super hard and it just kind of pays off. We got the team chemistry. We got pitchers on the mound that are dealing for us and we got our bullpen who’s really helped out.”
With the Tigers trailing 2-1 in the eighth, Greene hit a two-shot off Colin Poche (0-1) and Canha added a solo drive to make it 4-2.
Greene put the Tigers ahead 1-0 in the third inning with a 426-foot homer to center off Ryan Pepiot. Greene, who started the day tied with Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the MLB lead in walks, drew his 21st free pass on an eight-pitch at-bat in the first.
Greene went to high school about 100 miles away from Tropicana Field in Oviedo, Florida, and had about a dozen family members, including his parents and grandparents, in attendance.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to do that in front of them,” Greene said.
Isaac Paredes homered for the Rays, who have lost four of five and slipped to 12-13 overall.
Pepiot gave up one run and three hits over six innings.
Randy Arozarena, an All-Star in 2023, singled with one out in the sixth off Alex Faeda (1-1) for his ninth hit in 76 at-bats in April, and scored on Paredes’ homer that gave the Rays a 2-1 lead.
Detroit starter Kenta Maeda allowed three hits in five scoreless innings. The Rays went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position against Maeda, who lowered his ERA to 5.96 from 7.64.
Jason Foley, Detroit’s third relief pitcher, worked a perfect ninth to earn his seventh save in as many chances.
Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter had his seven-game RBI streak halted. It was the longest stretch by a Tigers player since Miguel Cabrera’s seven-game run from Aug. 6-12, 2013.
Tampa Bay’s Amed Rosario went 0 for 3 and had his career-high 14-game hitting streak come to an end.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: Closer Pete Fairbanks (nerve-related issues) underwent additional examinations. The right-hander has experienced numbness in his fingers while throwing and it flared up again over the weekend.
“He had more testing done, which all showed really clean,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “What that means, I don’t probably have the best answer quite yet. But I’m encouraged that nothing is showing up.”
Fairbanks said his hand felt as if it was asleep.
“Took a little bit to go away,” Fairbanks said. “Went away. And then it’s still been not necessarily perfect since then.”
UP NEXT
Tigers RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 4.44 ERA) and Rays LHP Tyler Alexander (1-0, 4.79 ERA) are Wednesday night’s starters. Alexander went 11-23 in 120 games, including 43 starts, with the Tigers from 2019-23.
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