DETROIT — Riley Greene homered twice and drove in three runs, and the Detroit Tigers beat Baltimore 4-2 on Sunday to take two of three from the Orioles.
Greene hit a two-run homer with two outs in the third off Cade Povich (2-9) and a solo drive in the eighth against Gregory Soto. Greene leads the Tigers with 23 homers. He hit both homers off left-handers after entering the day batting .203 with four homers against lefties.
Detroit (77-73), which began the day 2 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the last AL wild card, has won six of eight.
Baltimore (84-64) dropped its second straight series and scored just six runs in the three games. The Orioles, who have lost six of eight, started the day two games back of the AL East-leading Yankees but in position for the top AL wild card.
Keider Montero (6-6) gave up five hits in five innings and Jason Foley got four straight outs for his 23rd save in 26 chances.
Povich allowed two runs, two hits and two walks in five innings while striking out eight.
Colt Keith boosted the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the sixth against right-hander Jacob Webb.
Adley Rutschman hit a two-run homer in the eighth against Will Vest, Rutschman’s 19th homer this season but first since Aug. 18.
Soto has allowed 30 home runs in his big league career but Greene's was just the fifth by a left-handed batter.
Baltimore outfielder Heston Kjerstad was activated from the 10-day injured list after recovering from a concussion and went 0 for 2 and Webb was reinstated from the 15-day IL following a bout of right elbow inflammation. Left-hander Cole Irvin and infielder Nick Maton were designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Albert Suárez (8-5, 3.39 ERA) will start the opener of a three-game home series against San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Tigers: RHP Seth Lugo (16-8, 2.94) starts for Kansas City on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series against visiting Detroit.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
