Riley Greene returns, Jack Flaherty works quickly in Detroit Tigers' 4-0 win over Astros

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros, 4-0, on Monday at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers improved to 1-1-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Outfielder Riley Greene, who hit .288 with 11 home runs in 99 games last season, played in a competitive game for the first time since Sept. 1 against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

"I was just excited," Greene said. "I wasn't really nervous, just excited to be back out there."

Greene, fully recovered from Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing right elbow, finished 0-for-2 with one strikeout. He was the designated hitter for Monday's game, but he is scheduled to play in right field Tuesday.

ROSTER PREDICTION 3.0: Are the 13 position players already locked in?

Although Greene didn't get a hit, the 23-year-old drove in the first run of the game in the third inning. Ryan Kreidler walked on seven pitches, advanced to third base on Akil Baddoo's single and scored on Greene's weak groundout — on a 94.7 mph fastball inside the strike zone — to second base for a 1-0 lead.

Greene struck out in the first inning, but he battled for nine pitches against right-hander Spencer Arrighetti. A changeup below the strike zone induced the swinging strikeout.

"I think it was a win for me today," Greene said. "First at-bat, I saw a lot of pitches and spit on some good heaters up in the zone. I swung (and missed) at a good changeup, whatever. Second one, I was just late. I got to get my timing back. That comes with seeing more pitches. It was only the first day."

"He wants to take the proverbial red jersey off and just play freely," manager A.J. Hinch said. "It was good to see him on the field and see him happy again. He should be off the injury report. ... He'll be on a pretty regular schedule."

Starting off

Right-hander Jack Flaherty didn't waste any time.

"Nice and short," he said.

Flaherty threw 10 pitches, including nine strikes, in a perfect first inning with two strikeouts. He struck out Chas McCormick swinging with an elevated 95 mph fastball, then he struck out Jake Meyers looking with a rare right-on-right changeup.

He threw just 14 changeups to right-handed hitters in 2023.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to have more innings or not," Flaherty said when asked about the right-on-right changeup. "I threw a pretty bad (changeup) on the lefty, so it was one of those spring training at-bats, might not have happened in a real game."

YOUNGEST STARTER: How Tigers' Reese Olson plans to build on strong finish to rookie season

The Tigers didn't let Flaherty return for the second inning, despite an efficient 10-pitch first inning.

"It's February," Hinch said. "We weren't even going to pitch him this early, and then he felt really good coming into camp, so we wanted to get him an inning. ... Tentatively, his first start was going to be five days from now, so he's ahead of what we originally planned."

Flaherty averaged 94.6 mph with his four fastballs — up from 93.1 mph last season — and maxed out at 95.6 mph. His slider had the biggest jump in velocity, from 84.2 mph last season to 87.3 mph.

He mixed all five of his pitches.

"I tried not to peek and look at it," Flaherty said of his velocity. "The ball was coming out well."

At the plate

Spencer Torkelson hit a bloop single against Arrighetti, the Astros' top pitching prospect, in his first plate appearance of spring training.

He finished 1-for-2 with one strikeout.

Kreidler, who played third base and shortstop on defense, made a spectacular up-the-middle diving stop — and throw to Torkelson at first base — to take a single away from David Hensley. He also worked two walks in two plate appearances.

JEFF SEIDEL: It wasn't a walk in the park, but Tigers' Colt Keith showed why he'll be special

In the sixth inning, the Tigers increased their lead to 4-0 with a three-run home run from Brady Allen, driving in Dillon Dingler (walk) and Jake Holton (double). Allen, an outfielder acquired in a trade with the Miami Marlins last season, crushed a 92.3 mph fastball from left-handed reliever Julio Robaina to right field.

Allen attended George Jenkins High School in Lakeland, the city that's home to the Tigers' spring training facility, before his college career at South Carolina.

"I heard his name last summer when he started doing pretty well on both sides of the ball in (High-A) West Michigan," Hinch said of Allen, who is a part of minor-league spring training. "We're going to hope to see him over here a couple of different times."

Javier Báez started at shortstop and finished 0-for-2 at the plate, but he didn't strike out. He flew out to right field in the second inning and grounded into a double play to end the fourth inning.

Colt Keith hit a single in the fourth.

On the mound

After Flaherty, the Tigers sent right-hander Will Vest, left-hander Tyler Holton, right-hander Beau Brieske and left-hander Joey Wentz to the mound from the second through seventh innings.

Brieske struggled to locate his slider, but he weaponized his fastball and changeup for two scoreless innings. He threw 18 of 24 pitches for strikes and racked up two strikeouts.

Wentz threw 40 pitches.

Wentz completed the sixth and seventh, firing two scoreless innings with one hit, two walks and five strikeouts. He struck out three batters in the sixth, but not without allowing two walks and one single, then he settled down for a three up, three down seventh.

"He pitched himself into trouble and pitched himself out of trouble," Hinch said, "which is good and bad."

JEFF SEIDEL: Tigers are finally playing 2024 games: 10 reasons why they might be fun to watch

Wentz, who threw 23 of his 40 pitches for strikes, generated five swings and misses with one four-seam fastball, three cutters and one changeup. He also had seven called strikes.

The hit allowed by Wentz — a single from ex-Tiger Dixon Machado in the sixth inning — was the first of two hits surrendered by the Tigers. The Astros finished with two hits and five walks.

Three stars

1. Flaherty, 2. Allen, 3. Brieske.

Next up

Tuesday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Toronto Blue Jays in Lakeland; Tuesday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota.

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

Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers spring training: Riley Greene returns in 4-0 win vs. Astros