DETROIT -- The last time the Tigers had a player drive in 200 runs before turning 25, Travis Fryman was slugging his way out of Alan Trammell’s shadow and establishing himself as an All-Star. That was three decades ago, and Fryman went on to four All-Star selections as a Tiger in a 13-year Major League career.
Several generations of young hitters have come through Detroit since then. None have been as consistently productive at such an early stage as Riley Greene.
As his sixth-inning line drive carried past Spencer Steer’s diving attempt and into the left-field corner, the bases were cleared, breaking open what had been a battle of solo homers -- one of them from Greene. The Tigers ran away with an 11-5 win over the Reds Friday at Comerica Park, and Greene reached the 200-RBI mark for his career with authority on a four-RBI night.
Not that Greene is worried about career milestones at this stage.
“Oh, cool,” he said when told of the mark. “I’m just trying to help this team win. I feel like those just come with it. Just showing up every day and helping the team win is my goal every single day.”
He’s putting up impressive numbers in the process. He ended Friday night fourth in the American League with 48 RBIs this season, moving past teammate and best friend Spencer Torkelson. Only Aaron Judge, Rafael Devers and Cal Raleigh have driven in more runs among AL players. Greene is on a pace to post the first 100-RBI season by a Tiger since Nick Castellanos plated 101 runs in 2017.
That season came just after Castellanos’ 25th birthday. He had 197 career RBIs before that. Fryman didn’t record his first 100-RBI season until his age-27 campaign.
A day after meeting country star Riley Green in Baltimore, Greene was the headline act in the Tigers’ lineup on a night when Detroit hit three homers off Reds starter Nick Martinez, then hosted Ludacris for a postgame concert.
Both of Greene’s hits went to the opposite field. He had enough strength to power a Martinez fastball a Statcast-projected 426 feet to left-center field, nearly clearing the old outfield wall at the back of the visiting bullpen near the flagpole.
“It feels good to be able hit a ball like that,” Greene said. “I feel like I haven’t been able to hit homers the other way in a while.”
Greene’s 14th home run of the season was his fifth to left or left-center this season, but his first since mid-May. He had an early-season binge with four of his first six homers going to left, but all on the road. When he hit his way out of his April slump, his resurgence came with more pull power.
Nevertheless, Greene entered Friday hitting balls to the opposite field in the air at a 22.2 percent rate, well above his previous high of 18.4 percent last year and nearly three points above the MLB average of 19.3.
Martinez struck out Greene with a runner on in the fifth inning, but Reds manager Terry Francona’s effort to thwart Greene with the bases loaded in the sixth went as awry as Steer’s diving attempt at Greene’s liner to the left-field corner. Lefty Taylor Rogers put Greene in an 0-2 count and tried to sneak a called third strike on the outside edge, but by going with Rogers’ sinker, Greene got enough on it to get it past Steer and into the corner. Zach McKinstry, Jake Rogers and Jahmai Jones all scored.
“He sat on the spin and missed it, fouled it off on a big swing to the pull side, and then got back in the at-bat and smokes the ball down the line,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously all of us that have been in the game say, ‘What a great piece of hitting.’ It’s good when you pull it, too. But it’s nice for him to get a good pitch to hit, be in swing mode, but swing at the right pitches.”
Detroit’s offensive outburst included a pair of solo homers from Gleyber Torres, his first multihomer effort since May 24, 2023, with the Yankees. Javier Báez added a solo homer in the fourth.
“They rake,” Martinez said. “It’s a good-hitting team.”
The run support was plenty for opener Brant Hurter and bulk pitcher Keider Montero, who gave up a pair of solo homers among his seven hits over five innings.