Against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Tigers rallied for a 4-2 victory thanks to home runs from Riley Greene and Mark Canha in a three-run eighth inning.
With the Rays leading 2-1 with reliever Colin Poche (0-1) on the mound, Greene hit his fifth home run of the year, a two-run blast to right-center. Canha led 4-2 with a home run following a flyout, his second in as many games and his sixth overall.
For the Tigers, who have won four of their last five games, Canha added a double and Greene added a solo shot for his first career multi-homer game.
Despite giving up two runs on three hits in his two innings of relief work, Alex Faedo (1-1) managed to secure the victory.
For five innings, Detroit starter Kenta Maeda kept the Rays scoreless. He fanned five, gave up no walks, and gave up three hits.
Harold Ramirez was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, while Tampa Bay’s Isaac Paredes got two hits and a home run. Ryan Pepiot, the starter for the Rays, struck out four and walked two while giving up just one run on three hits in six innings.
Maeda’s defense let him down on the first two plays in the bottom of the first inning in an odd way to begin the game.
Shortstop Due to a mistake, Javier Baez booted a routine grounder. The Rays attempted to take an early lead when Carson Kelly committed catcher’s interference with Richie Palacios at bat. But Randy Arozarena grounded into a double play that ended the inning, and Amed Rosario fouled out.
Greene squared up Pepiot’s 91-mph slider and lofted it an estimated 426 feet to straightaway center to make it 1-0 in the third.
After Faedo gave up a single to Arozarena with one out in the sixth, Paredes launched his sixth home run of the season to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
After the thrilling eighth, Tigers closer Jason Foley closed out the ninth flawlessly, striking out one to get his seventh save in seven attempts.
