Riley Greene hits two homers in ninth inning; Tigers top Angels, 9-1

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on May 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. – Zach Neto poked the bear.

A confrontation between the Angels’ talented and feisty shortstop and Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal ratcheted up the intensity in this series tenfold Friday night.

And the drama culminated in some extreme Tiger thunder in the ninth inning. They blew up a 1-1 game scoring eight times to beat the Angels 9-1 at Angels Stadium. And most of the damage came against decorated veteran reliever Kenley Jensen.

Riley Greene homered twice in the inning, a solo shot leading off against Jansen and a three-run homer to cap the inning against lefty Jake Eder. Greene, with eight homers, is the first Tiger to hit multiple homers in the same inning since Magglio Ordonez in 2007.

Colt Keith went back-to-back with Greene to start the inning, his second homer in three games. And Javier Baez homered for the third straight game. Quite the offensive explosion.

It was a different type of fireworks early.

Neto ambushed Skubal’s first pitch, launching a 98-mph four-seamer 429 feet over wall in left-center field.

Neto stood at home plate and admired his work a bit too long, which grated on the Tigers’ dugout and on Skubal.

Skubal started unleashing high-octane sinkers and four-seamers, hitting 100 mph and in one stretch pumping four straight 99-mph heaters.

Neto came up for the second time with a runner at third and one out in the third inning. Skubal blew him away with an elevated 99-mph four-seamer and then yelled something at Neto.

Something to the effect of, “Sit the bleep down.”

Neto stared back at Skubal for a couple of seconds before saying something back. At one point, Skubal waved Neto out to the mound, as if saying, “Let’s go.”

The Angels dugout emptied first and the Tigers immediately after. Nothing came of it and both teams were separated quickly and the bullpen pitchers were sent back before they even got to the infield.

Skubal was unfazed by the ruckus. He went right back to work, piling up strikeouts and quick outs, turning the Angels’ aggressive approach into quick innings.

After a six-pitch fourth, he was at 48 pitches.

The Angels got three first-pitch hits, including Neto’s homer. But Skubal also got four first-pitch outs. He was at an economical 64 pitches after punching out the last three hitters in the Angels lineup in the fifth.

The economy of his work is what made it a bit odd that manager AJ Hinch removed him after six innings and 73 pitches. He finished his night with six straight outs, four of them strikeouts.

He had eight strikeouts and no walks in his outing.

And he left the game tied 1-1.

The Tigers couldn’t solve Angels starter Jose Soriano. With his 96 and 97 mph four-seamers and sinkers complemented by power knuckle-curves and splitters, he blanked them on six hits in six innings.

Shortstop Trey Sweeney tied the game in the top of the seventh, hooking a 3-2 off-speed pitch into the short corner in right field, just inside the foul pole against right-handed reliever Ryan Johnson.

It was Sweeney’s second homer of the season.

Relievers Chase Lee and Tyler Holton combined for six straight outs to get the game to the ninth.