After Gleyber Torres hit a home run Tuesday, July 29 against the Diamondbacks, he touched Riley Greene’s brand-new mustache on his way into the dugout after rounding the bases.
It was exactly the jumpstart the Detroit Tigers needed.
Two batters later, Greene blasted a two-run home run. Three batters after that, Zach McKinstry lined a two-run home run. All three players hit homers off right-hander Brandon Pfaadt to right-center field in the fifth inning.
Maybe the mustache is magic?
“I don’t know,” Greene said. “I mean, Zach might have gotten some. He touched it today. A lot of people touched it today.”
The three homers propelled the Tigers to a 12-2 win over the Diamondbacks in a 19-hit performance — their third win in a row after losing 12 of 13 games.
It’s official: The Tigers are back to their winning ways.
“We’ve all touched it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, referencing Greene’s mustache. “I’m not sure how that’s going to go with quotes around it. In the handshake line, he said, ‘We’re 3-0 with the mustache.’ There’s a little bit of belief in there.”
Greene — a superstitious player — debuted the mustache Sunday, July 27, against the Toronto Blue Jays in hopes of snapping a six-game losing streak. He shaved his beard and left the mustache for the second time in his four-year MLB career.
The Tigers won, 10-4.
The Tigers also won, 5-1, on Monday, July 28, against the Diamondbacks, followed by a 12-2 win on Tuesday against the D-Backs.
“With this team, a series of games that we played is just a small snippet of the season,” Hinch said. “What do you believe? The first 90 or that 10- to 14-game stretch? As players, coaches, manager, we’re built to run the marathon, but it is hard sometimes. It’s good to see the boys celebrate.”
Aside from the wins, the Tigers have scored 27 runs over their three-game winning streak — after scoring just 33 runs in their previous 13 games.
The Tigers (63-46) haven’t wavered from their position as American League Central leaders, even through the losing stretch, but after Tuesday’s win, they moved into a tie with the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL’s best record.
Being one of the top two AL teams will give the Tigers a free pass to the ALDS in the postseason, skipping the wild-card round.
“It’s going to happen,” Greene said of the losing streak. “It’s the game of baseball. I feel like every good team goes through something like this. Look at all the teams. They’ve gone through some touch stretches. It is what it is. I think it showed that, us as a team, we stayed confident, and we got out of it. We’ve only won three games, so we got to keep going and make things happen.”
As for the mustache, here is what Greene told reporters in front of his locker after the game:
Is this bizarre?
“No, I think it’s great. It gets the boys going. Whatever gets the boys going, you know?”
You can’t shave it anytime soon, right?
“I don’t know. We’ll have to see. It’s not a good look. It’s not a good look. But if it means winning, then I’ll keep it.”
The team is 3-0 with it.
“I know. I told skipper that. We’ll see.”
Has A.J. Hinch touched it yet?
“He has. Twice.”
So everyone has gotten a touch of it.
“A lot of people have.”
They just walk up and touch it?
“Yeah, it’s getting kind of weird.”
In Tuesday’s win, eight players had multi-hit performances: Torres, Greene, McKinstry, Kerry Carpenter, Spencer Torkelson, Wenceel Pérez, Dillon Dingler and Andy Ibáñez.
Carpenter isn’t giving the mustache any credit.
“That’s fake news,” Carpenter said. “No superstitions.”
Before the losing stretch, the Tigers had a 59-34 record through their first 93 games — the best record among the 30 MLB teams. After 12 losses in 13 games, the Tigers appear to be back to their winning ways with three victories in a row.
Just like they expected.
“Probably just tells me that we shouldn’t be emotional about some stretches that we have throughout the season,” said right-hander Casey Mize, whose ERA has climbed to 2.63 to 3.43 in his last three starts. “If you look at the bulk of what we’ve done, it probably gives you a better idea of who we are. It’s not going to be perfect, and there are going to be tough times that come up, but it shows me that we can get out of those because we’re a good team.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers are back to winning ways. Is Riley Greene’s mustache the magic?
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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