Riley Greene Powers Tigers Past Guardians With Two Home Runs

Riley Greene collected four runs batted in across four consecutive plate appearances, including two home runs, as the Tigers defeated the Guardians 6-0 on September 6, 2026, per MLB.com reporting. The shutout victory came in the first week after Greene's return from a hamstring strain. No Tiger had recorded RBIs in four consecutive plate appearances since Nick Castellanos on July 18, 2017, according to MLB.com reporting. Greene's first home run was Statcast-projected at 411 feet off Guardians starter Parker Messick; the second, a 421-foot drive in the sixth inning, came off the same pitcher. Greene added a double off Guardians reliever Matt Festa in the seventh, finishing 4-for-4. Greene strained his hamstring on August 11 during a Tigers win over the Guardians at Comerica Park and spent most of August on the injured list before returning Tuesday in Minnesota. During his absence, the Tigers compiled a 4-14 record and posted the worst team batting average (.197) and OPS (.591) in Major League Baseball, per MLB.com. His return and immediate offensive output came as the Tigers seek to stay competitive in the AL Central. Messick set a career high with 12 strikeouts over six innings despite surrendering the two homers, per MLB.com reporting. After Greene's RBI single in the third inning, Messick retired eight consecutive batters, five of them by strikeout, according to MLB.com. Before Saturday's game, Greene had entered Progressive Field batting .168 (19-for-113) for his regular-season career at the Guardians' ballpark, per MLB.com. He is 6-for-21 in postseason play at Progressive Field and has more home runs there than at any other stadium besides his home field, Comerica Park. Manager A.J. Hinch commented after the game: "Riley had a great game, but our whole team did," per MLB.com reporting. Ben Malgeri contributed three hits including an RBI single.