Detroit Tigers, Game 15: One thing I loved, one thing I didn't

TL;DR

Riley Greene hit a crucial homer in the Detroit Tigers' 6-1 victory over the Marlins, marking his first of the season. He contributed significantly with two hits, four RBI, and a run scored.

The News' Andrew Graham gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 6-1 victory over the Marlins on Saturday:

One thing I loved

Finally, at last, after much consternation: Riley Greene has homered. And along with a collective exhale as one of Detroit’s most important hitters gets off the schneid, it helped blow the game open on Saturday.

Greene’s 408-foot blast to right field in the bottom of the third inning put Detroit up 5-0 and proved to more or less be the decider on the day. To boot, Greene, who the Tigers need to be producing offensively to get where they want to go, finished his day with two hits, four RBI and a run scored.

Maybe A.J. Hinch hit the Montgomery Burns a la Darryl Strawberry — ”OK, skip!” — and Greene obliged. But after that bomb out to right field, Greene surely won’t need to shave his sideburns to make the team.

And for all his struggles, Greene had been smacking the ball around of late, so this was really just a matter of time. Managing to do it with two runners on base is a nice sweetener.

One thing I didn't

The Marlins starting pitching so far this weekend is pretty bad, to be kind about it. Chris Paddack is one of the least effective starters in the majors these days and couldn’t keep the Tigers off the board Friday. And Janson Junk was, well, junky on Saturday — and not in the good way.

He didn’t even give up that many hits, but he gave up the big ones when it mattered, walked a bunch of hitters he faced and struggled to get punch outs. It took him 99 pitches to get through five innings, giving up as many runs and walking a pair.

And it hasn’t even been bad in a catastrophic way where the Tigers post crooked numbers. It’s just been bad, like getting a D on a math test.

The bullpen is a bit more exciting for Miami and Sandy Alcantara pitches against Tarik Skubal on Sunday, so we hope for better to come, although the bullpen did give up a run in part because of a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning.

But it’s been 0-for-2 on starts for the Marlins with pitching this series. Bleh.