Detroit – Riley Greene didn’t really see what all the fuss was about.
“It was just a single,” he said.
But you flew around the bases.
“I’m fast,” he said.
He’s not wrong on either count, but his little-league homer will forever be the highlight of a 14-batter, nine-run third inning Monday night that sent the Tigers on to a 14-2 rout of the Boston Red Sox before a fired up crowd of 20,136 at Comerica Park.
“We should’ve had some oxygen,” manager AJ Hinch said. “If we had been in Colorado, he would’ve been in deep trouble.”
The Tigers scored more runs in that third inning than they did in the recently-completed three-game series against the Texas Rangers.
“It was great to be able to score all those runs,” Greene said. “That’s a good guy on the mound. To be able to get all those runs and win the baseball game, that’s a good thing.”
The Tigers hit Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck like a pinata and he was left out there for 11 of those 14 third-inning hitters and charged with all of the runs.
“We had a lot of good things happened tonight,” Hinch said. “And we created a lot of it.”
Gleyber Torres set off the pyrotechnics in the first inning, smoking a first-pitch sinker 432 feet over the bullpen in left field. His fifth homer, a two-run shot, left his bat at 108.9 mph.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 14, Red Sox 2
The zany third inning featured two three-run homers – one legit and Greene’s.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Houck unleashed a wild pitch which allowed Kerry Carpenter (who doubled to start the inning) to score.
Greene followed with a bullet single to right which scored two runs. But the ball got through right fielder Wilyer Abreu and rolled all the way to the wall.
“Me and Coach Poce (first base coach Anthony Iopoce) were talking,” Greene said. “He was telling me to watch the throw. Then the ball got by him so all I was thinking was, ‘Get on your horse.’ I picked up Joey (third base coach Cora) and I saw him waving. So I just went.”
Greene kicked it into overdrive and came all the way around to score. It was correctly scored a single and a three-base error, but it sent the crowd and the Tigers’ dugout into a frenzy.
“Their reactions were kind of funny,” Greene said. “Just seeing all the smiles. Pretty cool.”
J-Hen caps off our 9️⃣-run third inning
Our 11 runs are the most we’ve scored in the first three innings of a game since September 8, 2008 vs. OAK pic.twitter.com/xdVgVgcg79
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 12, 2025
The patrons barely had a chance to settle back into their seats when Trey Sweeney drove a three-run homer over the wall in right-center. It was his fourth homer of the season.
There was still only one out and only then did lefty Sean Newcomb begin warming up in the Boston bullpen.
Before leaving, Houck failed to cover first base on a ground ball by Javier Báez (single), walked Carpenter and gave up a single to Torres.
Justyn-Henry Malloy knocked in the ninth run with a pinch-hit single.
Báez and Sweeney, eighth and ninth in the batting order, each finished with three hits and combined for five RBI. The Tigers finished with 18 hits. The 14 runs are a season-high.
They hadn’t amassed 11 runs in the first three innings since 2008. The last time a Tigers team scored nine runs in a half-inning was in April of 2017.
It ended up being a mostly stress-free start for rookie Jackson Jobe. But it was clear even before the offensive onslaught that he brought his good stuff.
From the first inning on he was using all his pitches, mixing changeups, sliders and curveballs off 96-98 mph four-seam and two-seam fastballs. He ended up going 5.2 innings and allowing just three hits with five strikeouts. The only blemish, besides a solo homer by Abreu, was five walks.
“I felt like I let the team down in my last outing,” said Jobe, who gave up six runs and eight hits in 3.2 innings in Colorado. “Even though we won that game, I didn’t do a good job. But I felt a lot better about tonight.”
The pivotal moment for him game in the top of the third inning. It was still a 2-0 game when he walked Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman to load the bases with one out.
He caught a break when the runner at third, Jarren Duran, didn’t tag on a line drive to right field by Kristian Campbell. Jobe got out of the inning unscathed after Abreu grounded out to Torres at second.
“For Jackson to keep it together and get through that and then we respond with that kind of inning was big,” Hinch said. “One run, two runs, three runs would’ve been a really great response. But we hit for a long time and put up a huge number.”
Jobe posted a season-high 15 swings-and-misses with 19 called strikes. Both were a function of a more complete mixing of his pitches and an improved changeup.
“We did a good job of mixing all my pitches,” Jobe said. “Credit Ding (catcher Dillon Dingler) for that. I felt like we kept them off balance for the most part. With the changeup, probably just felt more convicted with it. I felt like it was better today and I had a better feel for it. That helped the heater play better, too.”
The Tigers (27-15) are 7-0 in his starts. He’s gotten more run support (6.58 runs per start before Monday) than any starter in baseball.
“They make it real easy for me,” Jobe said, smiling.
Said Hinch: “We have to view him as someone who is taking a step forward every game, trying to sprinkle in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. When it comes together, he has four electric pitches. We’re trying to get him to execute more and more. And he’s going to and he did tonight. His arsenal is legit across the board. Just let him pitch.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty every outing. He’s not going to be the same every outing. But he’s pretty damn good.”
@cmccosky
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