DETROIT -- The Tigers have built their style of play around buy-in from the entire roster, sacrificing individual success for the good of the group, giving up at-bats for platoon advantages, taking the extra base to make a teammate’s RBI situation easier, bullpen usage behind last year’s pitching chaos.
For All-Star outfielder Riley Greene, that sacrifice includes facial hair. Because he would not choose his newfound moustache for himself.
“It’s not a good look,” Greene said. “It’s not a good look. But if it means winning, then I’ll keep it.”
Greene and good friend Spencer Torkelson began the trend last Sunday in a quest to change the fortunes of a Tigers team that had lost 12 of 13. Torkelson’s effort didn’t go far. Greene, who has had a beard for much of his Tiger tenure and hasn’t been clean-shaven since he was a prospect, stuck with it.
Others were recruited. But like with many things around this team, Greene sets the tone. So once the Tigers ended their six-game losing streak Sunday, he had to keep the look.
Now with a three-game winning streak, including Tuesday’s 12-2 comeback win over the Diamondbacks, the Tigers have adopted Greene’s moustache as a source of positive energy. Gleyber Torres tickled Greene’s moustache after his go-ahead home run in the fifth inning. Greene homered two batters later.
“Zach [McKinstry] might have gotten some. He touched it today,” Greene said of McKinstry, whose two-run homer capped the inning. “A lot of people touched it today.”
That includes the manager.
“We’ve all touched it,” A.J. Hinch said. “I’m not sure how that’s going to go over with quotes around it. Then in the handshake line, he said, ‘We’re 3-0 with it.’”
The latest win needed a turn of fortune after a start that seemingly had the Diamondbacks poised to run away.
Tigers starter Casey Mize looked off from the start, allowing four of Arizona’s first five batters to reach base safely in a 32-pitch opening inning. He held the damage to a run by stranding the bases loaded with an Alek Thomas fly out, but James McCann’s walk leading off the second got things rolling again.
Once McCann came around to score on Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice fly, Hinch came out to pull Mize, who allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts. He has allowed 13 runs (11 earned) on 19 hits over 8 2/3 innings in his last three starts.
“Obviously I’ve had three in a row that have not been good enough at all,” Mize said.
Brant Hurter stranded two inherited runners, then covered three more scoreless innings, helped by Matt Vierling’s juggling catch to deny McCann an extra-base hit leading off the fourth. But the Tigers still needed to figure out D-backs starter Brandon Pfaadt, who allowed a hit in each of the first three innings but didn’t allow the runners to advance.
Enter Greene, who entered the day in a 1-for-15 skid and 5-for-32 since his last home run July 19. He grounded out in his first at-bat to strand a runner on second, but he turned on Pfaadt’s first pitch of the fourth inning and ripped a line drive that stayed inside the right-field line for a leadoff double.
“I think with Riley, like a lot of hitters, I just see an exhale when something goes their way,” Hinch said. “When you get beat down a little bit, you’re grinding, you’re trying to maybe alter a little something, maybe a little adjustment. At the end of the day, you need to see a hit. And so, the ball that goes down the line and stays fair, it feels like last week it would’ve gone foul. And now it’s fair, collective exhale, there’s a big joke, he’s laughing in the dugout again, just relaxed that he did something right.”
So did the rest of the team. Wenceel Pérez singled Greene over to third, then Pérez’s daring steal of second on an 0-2 pitch with two outs put the tying run in scoring position for Dillon Dingler’s single.
An inning later, Greene reached below the zone for Pfaadt’s changeup and golfed it midway up the right-field seats. He went to the opposite field next inning on Brandyn Garcia’s 97 mph fastball and tucked an RBI double just inside the left-field line.
It’s Greene’s first career game with three extra-base hits. He’s the only Major Leaguer besides Aaron Judge with at least 22 doubles, 26 homers and 84 RBIs this season. He’s also the only Tigers with a touchable moustache.
“It’s getting kinda weird,” he said.