Riley Greene entered the ninth inning Friday with the Detroit Tigers tied with the Los Angeles Angels. He exited with a wild piece of MLB history.
The Tigers’ All-Star outfielder became the first major-league player to ever hit two home runs in a single ninth inning, taking Angels closer Kenley Jansen deep to lead off the frame (video above) then coming back up for a three-run homer with two outs.
The two homers combined for 780 feet of distance at Angel Stadium. That outburst was part of an eight-run ninth inning for the Tigers, who tied the game in the seventh inning on a Trey Sweeney solo homer.
Advertisement
Detroit tagged Jansen, who was making his first appearance in eight days, for six hits (three homers) and six earned runs. Those were the first runs Jansen had allowed in nine games all season, which meant his ERA went from 0.00 entering Friday to a career-worst 6.23. That’s the life of a reliever.
“Sometimes you stink. That’s it,” Jansen said after the game, via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.
After Jansen, the Angels put in Jake Eder, who allowed two more runs before finally getting Colt Keith to fly out to end the top of the inning. The Angeles went down in order against Tyler Owens to end the game.
“That might be a first for me,” Greene said when asked if he had ever seen an inning like the ninth.
With two swings, Riley Greene did something no MLB player had ever done before. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
(Ronald Martinez via Getty Images)
The homers were the seventh and eighth of the season for Greene, who is now slashing .276/.324/.504 with 19 runs and 20 RBI. He’s part of a Tigers lineup that has helped position the team as perhaps the best in the American League so far this season, with a league-best 21-12 record in a competitive AL Central.
As for the Angels, in case the fact that their closer hadn’t pitched in eight days wasn’t evidence enough, it’s been a tough season at 12-19. After an encouraging start, they’ve lose seven straight and nine of their past 10, and Mike Trout just hit the IL for an indeterminate amount of time due to a bone bruise in his left knee.
