Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene blasts leadoff home run in 2-1 loss to Cleveland Guardians

CLEVELAND — Riley Greene hit a leadoff home run.

But the Detroit Tigers lost again.

The Tigers couldn't build upon Greene's home run to open the first inning in Monday's 2-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians in the first of three games at Progressive Field.

Greene has nine homers in 35 games this season.

The Tigers (18-17), though, dropped their fourth game in a row in their first matchup against the American League Central's first-place team. The Guardians countered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first inning, then snapped the tie with a solo home run in the sixth inning.

José Ramírez, a five-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger, put the Guardians ahead, 2-1, with a solo home run — his seventh of the season — against right-hander Jack Flaherty's inside fastball in the sixth inning.

The ball clanked off the right-field foul pole.

A one-out double from Kerry Carpenter advanced a runner into scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning, facing right-handed reliever Hunter Gaddis.

Spencer Torkelson hit a weak dribbler down the third-base line. Ramírez, the third baseman, pulled the first baseman off the bag with a poor throw, but Torkelson was awarded with a single. But Carpenter didn't advance to third base when Ramírez decided to throw to first base, leaving the Tigers with runners on first and second base, rather than runners on the corners.

Andy Ibáñez grounded into a force out, and Wenceel Pérez struck out swinging. Those outs stranded the runners and squandered the final scoring opportunity.

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The Tigers finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Jack Flaherty's six innings

Flaherty got beat by Ramírez in the sixth inning, but aside from that moment, the 28-year-old — coming off 14 strikeouts on the final day in April — dominated the Guardians for his second sharp performance in a row.

The 28-year-old, who signed a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason, gave up two runs on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts across six innings, throwing 101 pitches.

The Guardians answered Greene's leadoff homer with Estevan Florial's leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning. Flaherty recorded back-to-back outs before walking Josh Naylor to keep the first inning alive, and Will Brennan made Flaherty pay for that mistake by hitting a first-pitch, down-and-away curveball for an RBI single to right field, tying the game at one run apiece.

Carpenter — rather than trying to throw out Florial at home plate from right field, which would have been a reckless decision — cut down Naylor advancing to third base with a strong throw from the outfield, ending the first inning.

Flaherty generated 15 whiffs on 47 swings — a 31.9% whiff rate — with nine fastballs, five sliders and one curveball. His fastball averaged 94.4 mph.

In 2024, Flaherty has a 3.86 ERA with six walks and 56 strikeouts across 42 innings.

Left-handed reliever Joey Wentz, who owns a 0.68 ERA across 13⅓ innings, kept the Guardians from scoring in the seventh and eighth innings. He sent down all six of the seven batters he faced, racking up four strikeouts.

Riley Greene's big swing

Not only did Greene launch a leadoff homer, but he ambushed the first pitch of the game, an inside 90 mph fastball from right-hander Triston McKenzie.

Greene hit the ball 424 feet with a 109.8 mph exit velocity.

The next three batters struck out swinging: Mark Canha (fastball), Matt Vierling (curveball) and Carpenter (curveball). McKenzie allowed one run on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts across five innings, throwing 83 pitches.

The Tigers missed an opportunity to score in the fifth inning, only because of three bad calls from home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus on Mark Canha with runners on the corners and one out. Three called strikes were questionable, and two of them were certainly outside of the strike zone.

Canha struck out looking on a seventh-pitch curveball at the top of the strike zone. After the strikeout, Canha expressed his displeasure by exchanging words with De Jesus at home plate before walking to the dugout.

Vierling, the next batter, produced a deep flyout to left field on a first-pitch, middle-middle slider for the third out in the fifth inning, but if Canha would've received a walk like he deserved, the flyout from Vierling would've been a sacrifice fly.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene HR not enough in 2-1 loss in Cleveland