Greene's oppo pop calling up memories of former Tigers slugger

DETROIT -- The Tigers have been celebrating the 25th anniversary of Comerica Park this weekend for their series against the Mariners, the team that helped open the ballpark against Detroit back in April 2000. As part of the festivities, former Tigers slugger Dean Palmer returned to his old home park to throw a ceremonial first pitch.

Palmer’s Tigers tenure wasn’t a star-studded one, hampered by injuries that ultimately ended his career in 2003 at age 34. But he hit 20 of his 275 career home runs at Comerica Park, all in its first couple of seasons in 2000-2001 under the original dimensions. What is now the back of the bullpen was originally the left-field wall, including 395 feet to the power alley, and the flagpole in left-center field was originally in play as an homage to Tiger Stadium. It took a mighty poke for a right-handed hitter to homer to left, but Palmer was one of the few that could make it look a bit closer.

Current Tigers can only wonder in awe at hitting for power in such a large outfield. But as Riley Greene sent a splitter from Mariners starter George Kirby deep to left and into the Tigers’ bullpen Saturday for his 23rd home run of the season, he provided a mighty drive of his own.

Not only had he gone to the opposite field yet again, his sixth such home run this season, according to Baseball Reference, his fifth-inning homer powered the Tigers briefly back into a game that seemed like a runaway at the time and ultimately ended up being a 15-7 loss.

“When they put their five-spot up [in the third inning], ‘What is it going to take to get back in the game?’,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s going to go one of two ways: You chip away, score a run here or there and try to outlast them, or you need a big inning yourself -- or a big swing. And so when you can get three on one swing to automatically get you within shouting distance, that’s a huge boost.”

Greene’s four-RBI performance furthered his standing in franchise history. With 77 RBIs, he has already passed his career-best total for a full season, accomplished last year with 74. With one game to go before the All-Star break, he has the fourth-highest RBI total before the break in Tigers history.

Of course, the number of games before the break changes from year to year. Put in more relative terms: His 77 RBIs mark the fourth most by a Tiger in his first 94 games of a season since Comerica Park opened in 2000, tied with Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown season of 2012. Only Cabrera (95 RBIs in 2013, 88 in 2010) and Magglio Ordonez (82 in his MVP runner-up 2007 season) have had more.

Greene’s next home run will tie his total from all of last season, and continue his march toward the first 30-homer season by a Tigers outfielder since Justin Upton hit 31 in 2016.

Just nine of Greene’s home runs this season have come at Comerica Park. Saturday was just his third to left or left-center at Comerica this year.

While this series has been a rough one for Tigers All-Star pitchers -- after the Mariners scored four runs on Tarik Skubal in Friday’s opener, they put up six runs in three innings against Casey Mize -- it has been more productive for Tigers All-Star hitters.

Greene has five RBIs this series, including Friday’s RBI triple to right-center, near the deepest park of Comerica Park. Gleyber Torres had three hits and a run scored Saturday, extending his on-base streak to 24 games. Zach McKinstry hit his eighth homer of the season, a two-run drive to fuel an eighth-inning rally that eventually brought the potential tying run to the plate. Greene was on deck when Matt Brash retired Wenceel Pérez to end the threat. Four ninth-inning Mariners runs off Tommy Kahnle put the game out of reach once and for all.