Kenta Maeda of Japan of the Detroit Tigers pitches for the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
12:01 JST, April 24, 2024
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Riley Greene went two deep for his first multi-homer game, Mark Canha added a homer and the Detroit Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 Tuesday night.
The Tigers have won the first two of the three-match set to achieve their fifth undefeated streak (4-0-1) to start the season. Detroit last opened a season with five undefeated road games in 2007.
“They’re a special team,” Riley said. “We have a lot of guys here who work super, super hard and it just pays off. We have the team chemistry. We have pitchers on the mound that handle for us and we have our bullpen that has really helped us.”
With the Tigers trailing 2-1 in the eighth, Greene hit a two-shot over Colin Poche (0-1) and Canha added a solo drive to make it 4-2.
Greene gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a 400-foot home run to center by 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 attended high school about 100 miles away from Tropicana Field in Oviedo, Florida, and about a dozen family members, including his parents and grandparents, were in attendance.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to do that in front of their eyes,” Greene said.
Isaac Paredes homered for the Rays, who lost four of five and fell to 12-13 overall.
Pepiot gave up one run and three hits in six innings.
Randy Arozarena, a 2023 All-Star, 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 yielded. 1 pipe.
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 from 7.64 to 5.96.
Jason Foley, Detroit’s third relief pitcher, hit a perfect ninth and earned his seventh save in as many opportunities.
Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter saw his seven-game RBI streak halted. It was the longest stretch for a Tigers player since Miguel Cabrera’s seven-game streak from August 6-12, 2013.
Tampa Bay’s Amed Rosario went 0 for 3, ending his career-high 14-game hitting streak.
